Not So Far Away
by NeonZangetsu
Summary: "I shouldn't be alive. But for some reason, I am." He's lost everything; his friends, family, even his home. Defeated, crippled, ripped away from his world and cast into another, the son of Minato finds himself in a galaxy Not So Far Away. Thrown into a war between good and evil-what could possibly go wrong? Crossover with the Force Awakens! NarutoxRey. Please be Nice!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! Ahem, sorry, sorry, sorry about that. Couldn't help myself. I've been on a wee bit of a hiatus as of late, enjoying time off and healing up after sustaining some injuries. BUT I'm alive! And though my legs might be busted up, my spirit hasn't faltered in the slightest. I've also seen the Force Awakens several times, so if you haven't seen it yet SPOILERS ABOUND WITHIN! I seriously suggest you see it, though. It was great!**

 **And, since someone was kind enough to challenge me to do this...here we be!**

 **Anywho, despite the name, this is NOT a part of the Not Going Home series, rather, an offshoot of it, per se. An idea. An inkling.**

 **I mean no disrespect of Star Wars the Force Awakens but SPOILERS AHEAD! This is written for entertainment purposes and for you, the readers. I own none of the content within, only the concept of this story. Now, I proudly present...**

 **...Not So Far Away!**

 **...make of it what you will! On another note, this story starts approximately a few months before the events of T** **he Force Awakens...hope ya like it! I tried to keep everyone in character, given that a certain someone suffers a tragedy in this chapter...but I humbly ask that you be nice and enjoy the story! Yes, yes, yes, Naruto is NOT overpowered in this one, so don't worry...**

 _"Hit me with that stick ONE MORE TIME! See what happens!"_

 _~?._

 **Crashing Low**

 _Ever been tormented by an angry goddess?_

 _What am I saying, of course you haven't!_

 _Imagine the worst pain you've ever felt in your life. Now multiply it by a thousand. Think of a planet, exploding around you. The heat of a searing sun, burning behind your brain. Unbearable agony. Your every cell self-destructing, one by one. I could go on, list every possible agony you could experience at the hands/claws Kaguya, Mother of all Chakra, Juubi, whatever you want to call her. But I think you get the point, no? Its not a pleasant experience, not by any means._

 _My own fault, really. I made a mistake._

 _Fucked up._

 _And in an instant, everything fell apart._

 _Ever lost a leg?_

 ** _I have._**

 _A split second of inattention on my part-that's all it took. Then she was on me, and suddenly I was bleeding out. In a sense, I was lucky. Unlucky, rather. Because, well...I lived. Survived. Almost wish I hadn't. Because I was forced to lay there, watch, as she blasted Sasuke into bloody red atoms. Didn't even hesitate._ _Just one blow and...poof. He was gone. Just like that. What were we thinking, going up against a god? A fucking god?! I realized too late how naive we'd been, staring into those soulless white eyes._

 _I'd been a fool._

 _Of course knowing all of this, Kaguya didn't finish me off. Instead she left me there, bleeding. Made we watch as she set upon the others. WATCH as she tore Kakashi-sensei limb from limb._ _Then she went after Sakura-chan._

 _Have you looked a friend in the eye and watched them be ripped apart?_

 _I have._

 _It was slow._

 _By the end, I was almost praying for it to stop; for an end. Something, ANYTHING to make her stop. But of course, she didn't. I tried to stand, to get up, to fight back, anything at all. But I couldn't. Every time I dragged myself up, she knocked me back down. It didn't end there, either. When my friends and family were finally dead, when Sakura finally stopped screaming, she turned on me. Torment doesn't even begin to define the hell that followed in the next few hours. Or was it days?_

 _Consumed by the grief, I did the only thing left to me, all I could think to do as she tore me apart, put me back together, and tore me apart again. I shut down. Stopped thinking. Feeling. Then..._

 _...something went wrong._

 _One minute, I was staring down a mad goddess, staring certain death in the face. I was certain she was going to kill me. Eventually. Hell, I'd resigned myself to it. Death seemed certain, the price for my failure. I could not protect them; my friends, the world, anyone. So what reason did I have to live? Yes, I'd admitted defeat. I was going to die. Perhaps I should have paid better attention to my surroundings. Perhaps, had I looked a little to my left, I would seen Kakashi-sensei **move**. Look at me._

 _The next..._

 _...I was somewhere else._

* * *

 _(Meanwhile...)_

* * *

Jakku.

The setting sun burned down out of a cloudless, arid blue sky, washing the vast desert wastes of the planet in angry auburn light. The resultant glare rose off the flat, sandy surface in a wet shimmer of blistering heat to fill the gaps between the massive cliff faces and solitary outcroppings of the mountains that were the planet's sole distinguishing feature.

Sharply etched, the monoliths stood like sentinels keeping watch in a watery haze, offering no solace for the poor souls beneath their vigil.

Tonight, one such soul wondered

Rey sighed quietly and shifted her weight against the ruined bulk of the AT-AT that was her home, chewing morosely on a muffin ration. It tasted bland and chalky in her mouth, but it was enough to take the edge off of the hunger, albeit slightly. Food was food, after all. She chewed slowly, carefully, s

Wandering dark eyes flicked up to the horizon, longingly watching a freighter lazily ascend to the stars.

What she wouldn't give for a freedom like that.

Another day's salvage, another half-portion of rations to scrape by on. Tomorrow she'd venture back out to the wreck of the star destroyer and see if she could scavenge more. Turn it into to Plutt in exchange for some semblance of food. Sleep. Rinse and repeat. Why did she wait like this? Why didn't she just steal a ship, and get off this planet? Putting this moral quandry of taking something that didn't belong to her aside, she knew she could; she knew how to fly just about anything. It would be so easy, too! Surely there was something out there in the galaxy-anything better than this scrap heap she called home.

Yet, Rey was still here.

Still waiting.

Still alone.

In _hell._

She supposed she already knew the answer; the reason, why she remained on Jakku, so terrified to leave. Her family. Part of her was terrified they'd return the moment she left, and then where would she be? Alone, all over again. No. They'd come back, she told herself. They would. They had to. They must. The alternative-the notion that they might NOT come back-frightened her more than she could possibly say, so she shoved all of it away into the deepest, darkest corner of her mind and locked it there.

They would come for her, she told herself.

Someday.

Until then, she just had to wait.

She just had to

 _ **THOOM!**_

A harsh crack of noise shook the young woman from her musings and made her jolt upright. The very freighter she'd seen had just exploded violently, detonating into a brilliant plume of napalm and smoke. The horizon, already near dark from sunset, now lit itself a stark scarlet, punctuated by bits of blackened hull and debris spraying outward in just about every direction. Even from here she felt the shock-wave of the vessel's collapse like a giant thunderclap; as if the hand of an angry god had just reached down and smote the ship from sky.

Idly, she noted the wreckage wasn't too far from her position. Now _that_ would make for some good salvage.

Then she saw it; a streak of light shrieking out of the falling debris in a diagonal line, down into the atmosphere. It didn't slow in the slightest. If anything, the distant object seemed to accelerate before her very eyes as if propelled by some unseen source.

What was that, a pod?

Grabbing a pair of binoculars from her pack, she hastened upright, training the lens on the foreign item.

Screaming, roaring with ferocious hunger and relentless drive it shot across the horizon, the heat and the light seemed to shatter and the dunes themselves tremble. No, wait. That was too small to be an escape pod. A comet, then? Frowning, she adjusted the lens, zooming in. It wasn't uncommon; the occasional passing space rock would sometimes get caught in the planet's gravity and be tugged down to the surface. For one larger than a freighter, now that was rare, so why would it be...odd...what...

...what _was_ that?

Frown deepening, the scavenger followed the plummeting arc of the object, watching it tumble end over end.

No.

Wait.

It wasn't an asteroid.

Hell, it wasn't even a comet.

Because, as she peered through the macrobinoculars, she realized this was no mere meteor, plummeting from the sky. It was...a man?

At least, she assumed the humanoid shape, glimpsed through the grainy lens, was indeed human. She had just enough time to glimpse him before he passed out of sight; his body battered, his clothes tattered, it was a marvel he hadn't yet burned up in his return to the atmosphere. Still he plummeted, the ground rushing up to greet him like an old friend. There was no way he'd survive the impact. Right? Rey dithered a moment, torn between the prospect of fresh salvage-which could amount to quite a bit of rations-and her own innate curiosity about the stranger who'd fallen from the sky.

In the end, the choice was rather simple.

Right?

Without so much as a second thought, she snatched up her staff and set off after the flying man.

* * *

 _(With Our Free-Falling Blond...)_

* * *

 _'Okay. Not dead. This...this is...new.'_

Bloodshot blue eyes snapped open to the rush of wind, lashing at his face like a whip. An ugly expanse of matte brown and sand was there to meet him. And sand. Lots of sand. Did he mention the sand? Because it was absolutely everywhere. Something struck him in the back, a fiery star of pain erupting between his shoulder blades. Blearily, Naruto turned his head. Tried to look up-or was it down-he couldn't tell. Regardless, what he saw there took his breath away.

Bright.

Overhead, smoke and flame roared through the sky, an angry red eye of destruction glaring down at him furiously. Bits of broken-whatever the hell that was-rained down around him, peppering his savaged coat in fiery rain He didn't realize he was _still_ falling until he turned around. A spark of life-of alarm-flickered in those dead azure orbs as their owner realized what was rushing towards him.

"CraaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

Ground.

It was early summer and even in the waning light of the evening, the heat still provided just enough light to illuminate his impending crash. He squinted into fading sun as bits of broken debris swirled about him, kicking up little puffs as he jolted toward the earth at breakneck speed. Flailing wildly, the battered genin thrust out his arms and leg-and despite his best efforts only succeeded in pinwheeling even more fiercely. Chakra, when summoned up, only succeeded in calling his cloak out at the last moment.

Crap.

The broken shinobi could only close his eyes at the very last instant and braced himself for the inevitable pain; the jolting agony of the incoming impact. Having awoken earlier to find himself airborne was nothing as he compared it to just how rough his landing was about to be. Sure enough, something cracked across his face and sent him sprawling. Something stiff and infinitely unyielding, taking his shroud and shredding it to pieces as he tumbled across the dunes.

Funny, for something that ought be soft, the sand felt awfully _hard._

He slapped into the ground hard, and with zero control, broken body flipping over as he skidded onto his back, stomach, back again. He bounced; one, two, three, four times, before the momentum of his impact finally, mercifully, drove him back to dunes. His head kissed something iron-hard, made all the worse by the thickness of his skull. Black spots swam before his eyes and left him blind, reeling. Stunned, he laid there for a long, long moment, saying nothing, seeing nothing, _thinking nothing,_ for what felt like an eternity.

Minutes passed.

His body stitched itself together slowly, bruises and broken bones bouncing back like rubber as he lay there, breathing. What little chakra he had remaining was just enough to allow him to sit up and move, and even his very soul felt worn to the bone. Depression clung to him like a wet blanket, thick and cloying, refusing to release him. He had no right to be happy that he'd survived-if he actually had indeed, and this wasn't some fever dream cooked up by his subconcsious to escape Kaguya's torment- because he'd failed. That was the truth of it.

They were, all of them...

...gone.

That was his first real thought when he finally recovered enough to have one, and it gripped him with despair.

They were all gone.

Sasuke.

Sakura.

Kakashi.

Everyone.

Yet somehow, someway, he wasn't. Instead of being dead, he was _here._

Where the hell was here, anyway?

When he finally tried to stand, he sorely regretted it; a broken rib all but drove the breath from his his lungs.

 _Up, damn you! Get up!_ Swearing and spitting he got on his hands and knees and _tried_ to stand, eyes watering, ears ringing. Pushing his hands against the gravely and granite soil, he'd made it all of halfway, a half-arsed oath leaving his lips before the shadow fell upon him; before he raised his gaze and realized what exactly he was looking at. He'd landed in a massive crater; packed, and flattened by the impact of his landing, and rough descent.

Now, all he was left with was the pain.

 _And the ache._ It was everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. Radiating outward in his back, shrieking in his spine; even breathing was an effort in and of itself. He couldn't quite pinpoint where it was _-or where he was for that matter_ -only that there was no conceivable way he'd last long out at night.

Unable to sustain the effort required to stand, he flopped onto his back, all semblance of calm evaporating as gazed up into the seemingly endless desert. Where was he? How had he gotten here? Why was he alive? I should be dead. I deserve to be dead. His eyes flicked to his hand, to the mark on his palm. Fat load of good it and those new powers had done him. He'd failed. So why? Why did he yet live, despite that failure?

This arid desert he'd landed in offered no answers for him.

Indeed, it was barren and dry. Almost as if the life itself had been sapped from the soil, buried beneath the sands. No life. _I could die out here,_ he thought blackly. _Maybe I should._ It was an eerie thought, and one he could not afford to entertain. The clouds where gathering in overhead; a sandstorm of sorts must be coming. He tried to stand; tried to force his body into some semblance of movement, in hopes of finding shelter before he was struck by the full brunt of blast. Once more, he tried to stand-

 _"Fucking shit!"_

To say that he failed miserably would have been a massive understatement. He swore, then laughed; it was a harsh, bitter noise, one that sounded ugly even to his own ears. Blue eyes flicked to the sundered stump of his right leg; a savaged mess of charred bone and tissue ending just above the knee. The ruined limb stood in painful reminder to what he'd suffered, and it remained even as he felt some semblance of his strength try to return. He'd never been able to regrow limbs, after all.

There wasn't even any pain down there; the nerves had someone cauterized themselves when he wasn't looking, leaving him with the mangled leg. Kaguya's laughter echoed in his ears, snide and mocking. He recalled that much:

 _"Don't worry. I'll save you for last."_

Her angry screams as something-someone?-ripped him away from her:

 _"No! NO! You were mine! You belong to me!"_

And now, here he was. Alive. Denied. He'd never have the release he sought.

Too many questions, not enough answers.

In the end, the maimed ninja simply gave up. He huffed out a fierce breath and flopped onto his back, gasping. Harsh, angry moisture stung at his eyes, forcing an unwilling blink out of the blond. Teeth sank down into his lower lip, biting until he tasted blood. The pain woke him slightly, stirred his emotions. He knew they would have wanted him to live, to carry on, to be happy.

That made it worse.

"Why me?" he muttered aloud, tears brimming down over his cheeks. "Why me, and not them? Why am I alive?"

Maybe it would be better to just lie down and-

"Hey!"

Unfortunately, it seemed fate had other plans for him.

...whuzzat?"

His head popped up just in time to see someone appear over the rise. He could barely see her in the fading light, even his normally keen eyesight was now fading fast in the gloom. Dark hair, bound up in strange knots behind her head. Bright eyes burning on him, intent, inquisitive, and also...concerned? Hard to tell in the light. His vision began to clear somewhats as she hastened down the dunes toward him; he was able to see that the newcomer wore an outfit of homespun cloth/leather a seemed to be carrying what looked a large staff, so he wasn't overly worried about her being a threat.

"You're not dead?" words carried across the sands to him.

Naruto grimaced, fingers knuckling against the ground.

"Not for lack of trying."

Couldn't she-whoever she was-see that he wanted to be left alone?

Apparently not, for the stranger reached his position in short order. She tried to step around him, get a better look at him in the dim light, and he turned away. Pesky woman! Good samaritan or not, he didn't want her help. He just wanted to be left alone. To think. To be. To mourn. The last thing he wanted was to interact with someone. Anyone.

"Oh, god." A sharp gasp reminded him of her presence once more. "Your leg!"

Points for persistence, this one.

"Here, I have bandages-

"...'s fine." When she reached for him again, he swatted her hand away. "Don't feel it. Didn't feel the crash, either."

Indeed, he didn't feel anything...

...until she levered said stick at him.

"Wait...did _you_ destroy that ship back there?!" her voice was suddenly sharp, demanding. "Answer me! Who are you?!"

Despondent as he felt, Naruto still possessed the where-with-all to realize what was happening. Old instincts never failed. His hand snapped up in the same instant, gripping the weapon in a vice. The girl yelped, tried to rip it from his grasp, failed. Courage faltered in her eyes as he glared up at her, her brief moment of bravery vanishing even whilst he looked on.

"Let go!" she cried!

"That depends." he retorted angrily, "Are you going to hit me again?"

The girl glowered at him at moment longer and then in a blindingly fast movement, planted her foot in his stomach and most of her weight behind it. The result was instantaneous. Naruto's broken ribs howled in protest, and his strength abandoned his body dead away, air gusting out his lungs in an abrupt, windy gasp. Bent double, he feebly raised an arm, warding her off.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he lowered his arms defensively towards his lap. "Alright, alright! Could you not do that? Look, see, I'm putting them down-

She must have taken the movement as a threat of some kind; because the next thing Naruto knew, he was lying face down in the dirt, his nose bloodied. A low, exasperated growl snaked itself between clenched teeth, fingers clenching at the sand. Shakily, he rose, forcing his gaze up to meet that of the staff-bearing girl. She twirled her weapon expertly, already bringing it around for another blow. In his weakened state, Naruto had no chance to counter.

"Now wait just a sec-!"

Too late; Rey raised the staff and swatted him again, square in the jaw. Naruto grunted, miraculously managing to remain upright this time in spite of his injuries. When the next blow came he narrowly ducked, wincing as the black metal clipped the side of his head.

"Hit me with that stick one more time!" he growled. "See what happens!"

The girl paused, seemed to consider it.

Then she swung down at his head.

 _Hard._

WHAP.

 _"Today is NOT my day."_

That was his last thought before darkness took him.

 **A/N: Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed one for the interlude. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any buildings around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!**

 **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW!**

 **(Preview)**

 _Blue eyes snapped into angry red slits._

 _"I'm sorry, what was that?"_

 _"I said the scavenger gets one portion." Unkar Plutt rumbled, sneering. "An she should be lucky she's getting even tha-GAH!_

 _A scarred fist crashed through the grate, locked around the crolute's throat, hauling him up and forward almost instantaneously. Through the grate. Rey was still wondering just how the blond had managed to do that when Naruto tugged **even harder,** dragging the hulking alien out of paddock and pressing his forehead to that of the junkboss. His odd comment about Plutt cheating her suddenly seemed like a distant memory now, as she watched the battered blond stare down the much larger entity._

 _For a terrible moment, nothing happened._

 _Then, incredibly Naruto smiled._

 _"You meant **one hundred** portions for that salvage, right?" his voice was oddly calm-almost pleasant even-lacking even the slightest amount of menace as he spoke. "Not one?" His opposite hand rose slowly, crushing the comlink in his hand like a piece of flimsiplast. Those scarred fingers opened slowly, allowing Unkar to see the sundered scrap tumble down to the ground. When the blond looked up from the mangled pile of circuit, his smile was decidedly frosty._

 _"Well?"_

 _"Y-Yes!" the alien sputtered! "One hundred portions!"_

 _"And you're going to GENEROUSLY share the rest of your stash with the good folks behind us?" Naruto continued genially, blue eyes twinkling.  
_

 _Plutt immediately bristled._

 _"Now see here-_

 _A clenched fist dented the wall beside Plutt's head._

 _"I...ah...I mean yes, of course!"_

 _"Right, then." With a grunt, Naruto tossed him down like a sack of rotten garbage. "_ _Now pay the nice lady for her WONDERFUL salvage and shut the hell up."_

 _Rey stared after him, stupified._

 _Her body distantly registered the new rations and went through the motions; her arms furtively scooping them up into her bag, legs hastening after the hobbling blond. It wasn't difficult; even at what he insisted was a "fast walk" Naruto still moved painfully slow and she caught up with him easily._

 _"Why did you do that?"_

 _Another grunt._

 _"Don't like cheaters."_

 _Without another word, the broken shinobi limped away, favoring his prosthetic leg._

 **R &R! =D**


	2. RecoverRegroup

**A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! Ahem, sorry, sorry, sorry about that. Couldn't help myself. I've been on a wee bit of a hiatus as of late, enjoying time off and healing up after sustaining some injuries. BUT I'm alive! And though my legs might be busted up, my spirit hasn't faltered in the slightest. I've also seen the Force Awakens several times, so if you haven't seen it yet SPOILERS ABOUND WITHIN! I seriously suggest you see it, though. It was great!**

 **Now, someone asked about Naruto having the force, or teaching Rey jutsu, etc. To answer the question, well, its complicated. The sage's chakra belongs solely to Naruto. Even if we're talking 'bout regular chakra here, I'm not sure that's just something you could TEACH to a random stranger without an intensive regiment. As to Naruto even wielding the Force itself, well, this chapter should illuminate that aspect, a bit.**

 **Now, I proudly present the next chapter of...**

 **...Not So Far Away!**

 **...make of it what you will! On another note, this story starts approximately a few months before the events of T** **he Force Awakens...hope ya like it! I tried to keep everyone in character, given that a certain someone suffers a tragedy in this chapter...but I humbly ask that you be nice and enjoy the story! Yes, yes, yes, Naruto is NOT overpowered in this one, so don't worry...**

 **...and remember, he's still recovering from a bad loss...**

 _"So...that's a blaster."_

 _...yes?"_

 _"I want one. Think I'll take his."_

 _"Naruto!"_

 _"What? Its not like he'll need it anymore..._

 _~Naruto and Rey._

 **Recover/Regroup**

With the dawn came apologies and explanations both; at least in part for the scavenger. Her guest?

Not so much.

Beyond offering his name, Rey's guest remained obstinately tight-lipped about who-or what-he was, and where he'd come from despite her prodding. He got this awful hollow-eyed look whenever she'd asked, so in the end, she'd given the matter up for lost. Instead she'd chosen to do her best to make up for last night's mishap by tending his injuries. For all the good it had done her. "Naruto" as the despondent outcast called himself, didn't seem keen on offering his thanks for her tender care anytime soon, but the man didn't resist, either.

In daylight, he actually looked...well, rather _young._

About her age, actually.

With all the dust and blood scrubbed away and that battered jacket removed, he looked like a completely different person. His hair was the color of the sun, bright and yellow. His skin, tanned, suggesting a life spent out in the sun, in the wild, at work or play. He wasn't without his marks, either. She could see the whiskers on his face-three to each cheek-the latter half marred by an ugly scar _-or was it some sort of burn?-_ running perpendicular to the right side of his face, just below the eye.

It looked...disturbingly fresh. What on earth had happened to him?

There was another, longer, curving mark on his neck resembling that of a hand. As thought someone had tried to...tried to _strangle_ him. The mere thought of it made Rey shudder. She was no stranger to violence, but whatever marked Naruto had clearly been meant to draw out his death in the most painful way possible. From the way he flinched whenever she touched the bruises, the scavenger secretly suspected that, were she to look beneath his shirt, she'd find more scars within.

And then there was the matter of his leg.

It wasn't just injured; no, it was completely _gone_ , ripped away near the knee. Rey had wrapped and bandaged it as best she could, but an injury like that was going to cripple him at the least, sicken him at worst if he didn't get it properly cleaned soon. Or find some sort of prosthetic. Not that those were all that easy to come by out here. She doubted she could even find the part to build him one, were she so inclined. The challenge of such a task appealed to her regardless, however, and she found herself staring at the scorched limb, contemplating it.

All in all, its owner was a far cry from the scorched, bloodied savage she'd found in the wastes. Honestly, he was quiet. Peaceful, even.

Until he opened his mouth.

 _"You hit me pretty damn hard for a girl, ya know."_

"Oh, he speaks!"

Rey somehow managed to simultaneously laugh _and_ snort at the same time before she realized what he'd just said. Of course she immediately regretted doing both, instead cringing ever - so- slightly as she dabbed at Naruto's forehead. For the most part, her patient remained silent from where he lay on the makeshift table, eyes focused on the ceiling. He didn't give any indication of having heard her stutter, let alone speaking again. Rey took it as a sign that he wasn't about to get up and start trouble.

Yet.

Then the weight of his words hit her, stabbing at her like early morning light through a hatch.

"Wait, what do you mean, for a _girl?"_

"Just what I said." A lone blue eye rolled up to meet her gaze, and when he spoke next, there was a subtle, sly bite to his voice. "The girls I know hit harder." He chuckled aloud, it sounded like blaster bolts on rust. "A helluva lot harder, actually."

Without thinking, she rose to the bait.

"You...!" The damp cloth in Rey's hands suddenly felt as though it weighed a dozen pounds-an angry lead weight in her hands, her anger rising before she clamped down on it. "You know, if you're going to act like this, I could just throw you out."

Naruto's only response was a dead sigh.

"Probably should."

"Do you even hear yourself?!" Rey exclaimed!

"Its my voice. 'Course I did."

 _"Aargh!"_

Indignant, the scavenger actually considered tossing the kriffing rag at him, leaving him to suffer the fever alone. And why the hell was playing nursemaid anyway?! It wasn't as if she was _responsible_ for his sorry state! Nope. Not her fault at all She hadn't cracked his ribs, whacked him on the head, given him a concussion, and now the fever...

Oh, wait, she _had_ , hadn't she? At least two out of the three were her fault.

A thorn of guilt pricked at her and held her back, reminding her _why_ she was tending the prone blond in the first place. Why she hadn't left him out there in the wastes. Not that she'd been without cause of course; he'd given her a right fright before she'd knocked him out. He'd woken angry and bitter; she supposed the snark was just his way of adjusting to whatever tragedy had befallen him. Anything was better than the silent crying he'd done last night when he thought she couldn't hear him.

Whatever, _whomever_ , Naruto'd lost, it must have been recent. Recent enough for him to flinch whenever she asked about it, recent enough to be outright antagonistic towards her. Lost and alone. Stranded, in a strange and foreign place. No family and friends to speak of. Alone. And in that instant, incredibly, Rey understood. Anger gave way to pity, pity and pity yielded to empathy.

"Yes, well...

"..."

Silence stretched between them, an wet blanket, thick and cloying. Neither spoke as she finished wrapping his head forehead.

...sorry." when someone _finally_ spoke it was Naruto; but even when the scarred blond found his voice, Rey wasn't entirely expecting the ensuing apology that followed. "Didn't mean to be a dick." he said, swallowing as if he'd tasted something incredibly sour. "Still, you didn't have to hit me back there, you know." when he spoke again his voice was quiet-an almost subdued slur-barely even a whisper. "Wasn't going to hurt ya." Only a few hours ago, she'd feared he might.

Now...

"And _I_ am so, so, SO sorry for that." a pause followed on her part as well. "The hitting, I mean."

"Should be." He muttered blackly, still not looking at her. "I've got the bumps to prov- _wahayah?!"_ a sharp intake of breath followed as she touched a particularly sensitive spot near his ribs. Azure eyes that had once cut bloody blue daggers at her now squeezed tightly shut in scarcely controlled mirth. "Careful!" his cutting reproach warped into a laugh as he wriggled away from her questing fingers. "I'm ticklish! Owowowowow! Hurts to laugh, ya know!"

Rey laughed despite herself.

"Then stop fidgeting and hold _still."_

"F-Fine, fine! I give, I give!" The wounded warrior offered one final cackle as she ceased touching his stomach and did as he was told, rolling over onto his opposite side. Rey silently marveled at it as she set to wrapping his ribs. She didn't think one so wounded would be able to laugh like that. It was the first time she'd heard any real emotion from all morning. She'd tried her best to tend to him as an apology of sorts, given her limited expertise in the area, but somehow, it felt like his laughter had lifted a weight from her shoulders, one she hadn't even known was there.

Easier said than done.

Patching him up was like working on a wriggling wampa; the blond couldn't seem to sit still for more than a moment without being told otherwise. He'd insisted that most of his wounds were healed, but he _was_ running a slight fever and by the way he'd been struggling all morning suggested his injuries ran deeper than mere bruises, deeper than she knew. More extensive than she could tend. Not to mention the leg. Bandages were a good start, but if that fever got any worse, he'd need medicine. Not to mention food and water, the latter severely lacking.

Her choice made, the scavenger stood.

Blue eyes flickered toward her immediately. "Where're you going?"

"Out." Rey shouldered her pack and grabbed her goggles, snatched up her staff from where it lay against the wall. "I need supplies, and _you_ need fresh bandages." Among other things.

Just like that, the blast doors slammed shut on his interest.

"I don't need your help."

"Didn't ask." she replied primly.

Naruto opened his mouth.

Closed it.

"Fine." he relented. "But you're not leaving me here."

"Wait, wait, wait, you can't-

She wasn't expecting him to get up.

 _Because he did._

Bracing both palms against the edge of table, the blond levered himself up and, impossibly, _moved._ In one flowing movement he rose, but instead of trying to walk-which would've been impossible in his current state-he braced himself against the wall and pushed. Certain he would fall, Rey stepped forward to catch him, but the whiskered warrior simply bent his weight on his remaining leg and lunged forwards, snagging a handhold and anchoring himself beside her, only an arms-length away.

His grin was downright cocky.

Rey blinked, baffled.

"How did you..?"

"Still got two hands, ya know." the ghost of a smile played across his face, dancing in his eyes. "Long as I got 'em, I'm fine." Then he seemed to remember something, and it withered away. A muscle jumped in his jaw, and his fingers knuckled furiously against the wall. "Not that they did me any damn good...!" More than anything else, Rey wanted to talk to him in that instant. To ask. To know. What had happened to him? What went wrong? For a moment, an instant, a fraction of eternity, he'd seemed downright jovial.

Then a shadow had fallen over him, and he'd closed himself off all over again.

Why?

In the end, she abstained and asked a different question.

"What are you going to do?"

Naruto grunted, balancing himself shakily.

"I'll figure something out.

Rey dithered a moment, considered, then offered him her cherished staff.

"Here."

"Eh? Nah, I'm good." Naruto deferred the offering with another grunt. "Just give me a second...or..two...!" His eyes trained down to his right hand, glaring intently at the strange, circular mark on his palm. Almost as if he expected something to happen. When no such happenstance occurred, he scowled and leered at his hand with renewed intensity. A bead of sweat gathered on his brow, trailed down his temple. Still nothing, after a handful of seconds passed, he gave up, swearing.

"Bullshit! Why isn't it working?! I should have recovered by now...! Crap. Sorry." he amended with a sigh. Blue eyes flicked back to her. "Look, can I...?"

"You can _borrow_ it."

Naruto grunted. "Great. Thanks. Sorry, I'm not much of a talker, right now."

It was just as well then; because what he found outside left him speechless.

* * *

"I am _not_ getting on that contraption."

"Why not?" Rey asked.

The searing light of Jakku's rising sun cut down on Naruto's prone from relentlessly, seeming to wreathe his body in tendrils of golden light as he stood there, stricken. He remained firmly rooted outside the door to her hovel, refusing to leave the sanctity of the AT-AT and venture towards her. Instead he remained, leaning awkwardly against her staff, refusing to move. As she looked on, he slinked back into the shadow of the fallen walker, emphatically shaking his head.

Within good reason!

"Because!"

Naruto regarded Rey and her speeder as though he thought the latter might rear back and bite him in two. Judging by the look on his face, he probably thought it actually would. He'd froze up the moment he laid eye on it-almost as if he he had never seen such a thing before. But that was absurd. You'd have to live under a rock your whole to be afraid of technology. Yet there was fear and confusion she saw there, lingering in the blond and his eyes, the very way he held himself.

Another unanswered queston.

"I don't understand; what's wrong?" she pressed. "You act like you've never seen a speeder, before."

"That's 'cuz I haven't! And it looks like a fuckin' popsicle!" he exclaimed, shying away. "How the hell do you use it?!"

...with your hands and feet?"

"Eh?"

"Its just a speeder." Rey continued, seeing his hesitation. "See?" A hand gently caressed the old, rust-red hull, greeting it like an old friend, another primed the engine. "Haven't you seen one of these before?" When the blond continued to fidget like a wild tauntaun in a sauna, she felt her the beginnings of a smile pluck at her mouth. By the sands, he _was_ afraid! Of this old rustbucket! Ohhhhh, this was too good to pass up. She couldn't help but tease him. An impish grin playing upon her lips, Rey leaned back and patted the seat behind her.

"C'mon," the scavenger goaded, beckoning. "Its the quickest way into town. You're not afraid, are you? Hop on."

Naruto made a squelching noise.

"I am not, and I WILL not!"

Rey smiled slyly.

"Then get on."

Naruto groaned.

After another moment's hesitation, the wounded warrior reluctantly hobbled out of the shadow of the AT-At and started towards Rey. Pity stabbed at her yet again as she watched him struggle, the look of intense agony on his face was almost enough to make her hop down and reach him, but the determination in this blue orbs stayed her hand. Once Naruto reached the worn speeder he clamored up slowly, carefully, accepting her arm and swinging himself into the saddle behind the scavenger.

After tacking stock of the rickety speeder-and noting the distinct lack of straps-his face soured once more.

"Lemme guess." he drawled. "I have to hold onto you, don't I?"

"Only if you don't wan to fall off." she quipped.

Another moan.

"I have a bad feeling about this...SHIT!"

Gunning the engine, they shot forward!

* * *

 _(...)_

* * *

As it turned out, the trip into town was an experience in and of itself.

Naruto had clung to her like a monkey throughout the brief ride, refusing to so much as open his eyes the entire time. If the vice around her waist and his muffled curses had been any indication, he'd been right terrified the entire time. Had he really never ridden a speeder before? Or did he just hate technology? First time for everything, she supposed. Damn. Part of her felt just a twinge of guilt for accelerating so quickly back there; in all honesty, she hadn't even considered Naruto's reaction.

Until now.

Now, the moment she cut the engines and coasted to an easy, she could clearly hear him voicing his displeasure. "Get me offa this crazy ride!" Then he all but lurched out of the saddle. Ah. Perhaps _lunged_ was a better term; because they hadn't even exhausted their forward momentum before the blond was hurling himself to the dusty ground with a disparate cry of:

"LAND! Sweet land!" By the sun, he was actually _kissing_ the dirt! "By the log, I'll never forsake you again!"

"Oh, relax." Rey was physically shaking in an effort to contain herself as she dismounted and unstrapped her salvage from the speeder's net. "It wasn't that bad."

"Bad?!" his head snapped towards her with such speed she was certain he'd broken something. "Woman, that was terrifying! I'm never riding that thing again!"

"Then how do you plan to get back?" she offered him her hand.

Naruto lay there in the dirt for a long moment, considering. Then, reluctantly he accepted it and picked himself up, rags and all.

...damnit."

"Thought so."

Helping the battered blond to his feet, the scavenger patted him smartly on the back and started walking. In the end he was left with little choice but to limp after as best he could. Thankfully her pace was slow enough that he quickly made up the distance despite his disability. The scavenger continued onward, moving past stall after stall, holding his attention. Out of mere curiosity than anything else, Naruto followed, limping. Why he hadn't conjured a shadow clone and have it support him felt downright obvious by now; he doubted he had the chakra to form a single kage bunshin, much less maintain it.

Troubling, indeed.

"Wait, where are we going?"

She cast him a look.

"I told you, for supplies." a pause. "And clothes for you, if they have anything."

"Oi, I like what I'm wearing!"

"Yes, because I'm sure the dirty-vagabond look suits you. Besides, I might be able to do something about your leg."

 _Ouch._

"Wait, what's this about my leg?!" Naruto looked as though he might say more on the subject, but something caught his eye. A dark shape collided with him from behind, nearly sending him sprawling. An oath springing from his lips, the shinobi spun, ready to speak his mind to whomever had nearly knocked him over.

"Watch it!" A gruff voice boomed out at him.

"Oh," muttering quietly, the blond turned. "Sor...sorry...

He openly gawked at the sight sprawled out him, balking at the strange individuals shuffling by. Here he saw a man with horns, there, a little hooded creature with what looked like metal for a face. So many beings that he'd never seen before; strange, shuffling creatures and their beasts of burden. Metal men who shambled about slowly on stiff legs. Beasts with long trunks for a nose. Women with green and blue skin, strange tentacle like appendages sprouting out the back of their heads.

It was...overwhelming, to say the least. The full weight of what he was looking at threatened to engulf him. Envelop. Somehow, he managed to keep moving, his body falling into autopilot while his mind spun, confused and adrift. He was suddenly, keenly aware of everyone and everything around him, the foreign individuals-aliens-the strange instruments and apparatuses for sail...all of it. Now that he'd been made aware, it was all but impossible to ignore. The scene laid out before said much. Too much.

It also told him just how far he was from what had once been home.

"Okay." he mumbled. "Definitely in Konoha anymore."

"What's a Konoha?" Rey asked, slowing.

Naruto blinked; he'd almost forgotten all about her.

Blue eyes flashed.

Dimmed.

"Nothing."

His mind wandered after that; his body continued to follow Rey, but his mind, ah, his mind was elsewhere. He wasn't in the Elemental Nations anymore. Somehow, he knew. Call it a gut feeling, but he simply knew. Had he known he was in an entirely different realm, had someone told him this in that instant, it might've broken him entirely. Probably would. It wasn't as if he even had a home to go back _to_ but the realization that he was simply elsewhere, still beaten, broken, threatened to drive him mad.

 _'This is too much. This is, I can't even..I can't..._

Without thinking he paused, drawing up short. Rey was only slightly ahead of him, perusing a Zabrak's wares. Good. He wouldn't lose her, then.

Unbidden, his mind spat forth an idea.

A bit of senjutsu might help, speed the healing, perhaps? It had always eased his mind before. Made him stronger. Tougher. Calmer. Naruto didn't care. His mind was reeling, desperate, grasping at something _anything_ to center himself. He hadn't heard so much as a peep from Kurama since landing in this desolate hell, so that was out. Pacing was a no go. And seeing as he didn't have enough chakra himself...

Senjutsu it was.

He sighed, and planted the staff into the ground. Opening himself to nature he saw-

Suddenly, he was somewhere-somewhen?-else.

 _He looked down at the imploring and dying face of his opponent. Despite the difference of shape and structure that separated the two beings, he could see that he truly feared dying, and felt his disarray. It made a knot, somewhere deep in his gut. It was pity that attacked him, a sentiment rarely felt, theoretically present in all life forms… but absent here, in that moment. Rambling. He was rambling again. He'd been doing that a lot in the last few...what was, it days? Weeks? Months?_

 _Years?_

 _"Please..." the face beneath his boot rasped. "Spare...me..._

 _In that moment, he realized that even a monster that unleashed armies on innocent people, and was responsible today of several thousand deaths, could still inspire pity._

 _Didn't mean he was about to give it, though._

 _He raised his foot and stomped down on the skull dozens of times, for a whole minute, until not the slightest sound came from it..._

 _And there, overiding it all, a voice._

 ** _"This is only the beginning..."_**

Naruto nearly stumbled as the scene-vision?-left him.

Head pounding, he spun around, but nothing had changed. He was still the market, still beside Rey. Nothing had changed. Nothing, beyond what he'd seen. And what _had_ he seen? It didn't make sense. Whatever it was, senjutsu wasn't an option. Certainly not! Not if it made him see visions! Immediately he released his hold on what little chakra he'd gathered, and the spinning stopped. Impossibly, he felt even more ill than before; yet in the same vein, he also felt something else. A strange, alien sensation, tickling the edge of his consciousness, as if it were calling to him...

"Naruto? _Naruto!"_

Blinking, the blond came back to himself.

"Eh? What?"

Rey's face swung back into view as Naruto hastily blinked away his own thoughts, stepping back from the brink. The scavenger worried gaze was fixed firmly upon him, teeming with concern. Idly, he realized he must've stopped following her some time ago; because her hand was on his shoulder. Shaking him. How long had he been in a trance?

"You've been staring at that blaster stand for the last five minutes." his ears popped on the last word; she must've seen him wince, because she drew back. "Is something wrong?"

"I...what? Blaster? What's a blaster?"

Looking down, he found he was indeed gazing at what Rey called "blasters", which turned out to be a series of sleek looking...well, he didn't rightly know what they were. Some were large, others, small. They came with all sorts of colors, varied in shape and size. What the hell were they? Curious, he reached for one of these 'blasters', a large, sleek looking thing with what he could only assume was a scope. He wasn't quite sure what it was about it, but the shape fascinated him

Unknowingly, his finger tightened on the trigger.

 _Pew!_

It barked fiercely in his hand, a blue bolt shrieking up to tear a hole in the tarp overhead.

Rey cringed.

Naruto simply gawped.

Then the Devaronian tending the stand took one look at him and swatted his hand, snarling loudly.

 _"Chuba! Pateesa moulee-rah!"_

"Whoa, whoa! What?!" Naruto dropped the blaster with a yelp and recoiled violently, his mind reeling from both the verbal assault and strange language. "Oi! What the heck?!" The strange horned man continued to rant at him in that strange series of syllables and he simply stood there, weathering the assault, unsure of what to make of it. Inwardly, he was far too delighted at the discovery he'd made. to care. A laser! That damn thing spat a laser!

 _"E chu ta, sleemo!"_

Rey swooped in spitting what sounded like a curse at the vendor. Before Naruto could say a word she took his arm and led him away from the raging alien. "Ignore him." she soothed. "Zathar doesn't like it when people touch his merchandise without paying." Tossing her head to the side, the scavenger risked a glance back at the fuming Devaronian, now nowhere to be seen. "We should get out of here before he decides to take a shot at us. He's known for that bad temper."

"I noticed." Naruto could only shake his head in disbelief. "So, what did he say? Probably wasn't asking me for a second date."

"Trust me, you don't want to _-watch it!"_

Her warning was the only thing he heard before all hell broke loose.

In his mind's eye, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to warm, prickling as something incredibly hot approached them. Something inside of him was screaming, telling him to move, to dodge, to get the hell out of the WAY-

Instinct took over.

Naruto gathered himself and all his remaining chakra up, honing it into a single point. Then he leaped with his remaining leg and Rey's staff both, hurtling upwards and away mere miliseconds before an angry bolt of red plasma passed through the space he'd just occupied. His abrupt ascent ripped a tarp in half as he shot upright-sending it spinning wildly as he tore through. His arm shot out even as he gained airtime-whipping the staff to where he somehow _knew_ Rey would be.

Then he was descending, falling, landing awkwardly on his knee some yards away. More shouts followed his graceful fall and still, more confusion. And by the time the blond finally found the source of the noise Rey was already advancing, furiously swinging the staff he'd hurled in a smooth overhanded motion at someone's head.

A _familiar_ someone's head.

Her adversary, the very Devaronian she'd just insulted only minutes before, took the blow full on the chin and went down in a boneless heap. The blaster he'd been holding, the very one he'd taken a shot at them with, went skittering out his hand to vanish amidst the stalls and passerby. No one had stopped to even bat an eyelash at the fracas now that the Devaronian was down. Naruto straightened up with a supreme effort, feeling oddly drained just by doing so. Alright, that settled. Either he'd messed up his chakra coils somehow, or something was just plain _wrong._

It shouldn't take this long to recover!

"Why was he shooting at us?!"

"Guess he just doesn't like you." Rey replied breathlessly, handing him back the staff. "C'mon, lets get out of here before he wakes up."

"Don't have to tell me twice!"

Before he could so much as hop in her direction, however, a sharp cry commanded her attention.

 _"Rey!_ _Dei wanna wanga!"_

Naruto turned to find a woman in black and white leathers approaching them with quick, sure strides, her light blue skin seeming to shimmer in the fierce heat of Jakku's sun. She was a beauty to behold, as was the determined, almost feverish look in her eye, but that wasn't what drew _Naruto's_ attention. The jiinchuuriki took one look at the strange appendages sprouting from her skull and drew back. "Everybody wants to mess with me, today! The hell is this?!"

"That would be Syn." Rey explained simply, arching an eyebrow as the woman drew up short nearby. "She's actually the one we were supposed to see today. She's a...smuggler, of sorts. Sells fabrics, junk, jewels, that sort of thing. I wasn't expecting her to find us, though...

Before she could finish, the twi'lek completed her trek, reaching the scavenger in what seemed like a single stride. She was a tiny thin, barely cresting out around five foot. Slim arms threw themselves around the taller Rey's neck, squeezing happily as she babbled out what he assumed was a greeting. Then, to Naruto's great confusion and dismay, the strange female turned to _him_ and bowed. An actual bow, bent low and deep at the waist. She spoke rapidly, lekku twitching furiously.

 _"Dobrah gusha tu trawbbio grandio, mendeeya!"_

"Wait, what?" Rey sputtered. "What're you taking about?"

"That's what I said." Naruto sighed as those amber eyes turned back to him. "Look, lady, I have no idea what you said, but could ya stop bowing-

Before he could ask, Syn pushed something into his hands.

Opening his palm, the blond found himself staring at a strange, small, sunset-colored crystal. It felt almost warm to the touch, as if the tiny gem somehow possessed a life of its own. Warmth. Alive. He held it up to the sunlight for a moment, a flicker of uncertainty passing through his eyes. Whatever it was it felt...strange to him somehow. Blue eyes flicked back to Syn, who seemed to be watching him almost as if she expected him to do something.

"Translation, please?"

Rey's face dimpled in disbelief.

"She only speaks Huttese." she clarified. "Syn says...she was watching, back there. She saw you. That it would be an honor if the "great one" took this. And put it to use."

Syn beamed and nodded, pushing it back into Naruto's hand.

"Great one? Me? Take what?" Naruto eyed the crystal with renewed scrutiny. "The hell is it?"

Rey followed his gaze.

"I'm...I'm not sure."

Naruto turned it over, quietly trying to decide what the gem was. It felt...right with him. Like he'd been mean to find it, somehow. He didn't what that mean-if it meant anything all. Merely holding the crystal in the palm of his hand evoked a soothing effect. It seemed to give off an almost preternatural hum in the back of his mind, if such a thing were possible. Frowning, Naruto ghosted his fingers over the jagged surface.

Closed them.

"Look" he began at last, "Its, valuable. Syn, right? I appreciate the thought, but I can't keep this-

Sy shook her head fiercely and spoke in Huttese.

 _"Ban gon wan she co, cah!"_

"She insists. Free of charge.

Syn chattered off something else and Rey forcibly bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"She...she also says you can come by anytime to let her look at that leg of yours."

"Oh, that sounds good-wait, why?"

She told him why.

"You wan't a new leg, don't you?"

"Eh?!"

"We'll come back later." Rey continued, thumbing the small sled of salvage she'd dragged along for the ride. "Gotta turn this in, first."

Syn waved happily.

 _"Mee jewz ju! Bye, bye!"_

Once again, Naruto found himself left with the ungainly task of hobbling after Rey, relying utterly on the staff as an impromptu crutch. It galled him. Lacking a limb was one thing, but he couldn't do anything like this. He'd been slowed. He felt weak. Exhausted. Drained. Crippled. Hmm. Was that the problem? The reason for his lack of energy? That thought threatened the return of the soul-crushing despair again, of losing everyone he'd lost, but he stubbornly shoved such thoughts away.

Dwelling on it wasn't the answer.

But how not to?

"Please, don't start anything with Plutt." Rey said suddenly, making a hard left. Naruto couldn't so much argue as he could follow.

"Why not?vPlutt. Sounds like a lovely name."

"Naruto, don't. He'll kill you."

"Does it count if I already feel dead?"

She didn't answer, so in the end, he was left to dutifully follow Rey.

Upon reaching a ramshackle stand, Rey unhooked her precious salvage and hoisted it piece by piece a rather portly looking creature, the entire time, her face carefully blank. It wasn't until the alien spoke that he realized why she'd maintained such a neutral expression. He watched her carefully as her slim hands pushed the small mountain of associated parts and circuitry onto the counter and patiently waited for him to take stock of it all. Ah, that's what this was. An exchange.

Bartering.

"Hmm," the junkboss began in a voice like boulders grinding together, "What you've brought me today is worth...one portion." A thick, meaty fist slammed down a packet of rations and swiftly withdrew behind the grate just as quickly. Rey twitched, her mouth set into a stubborn line.

"Last week that much would have been worth ten."

Plutt snorted.

"And today its worth one. Next."

Naruto twitched; blue eyes snapped into angry red slits.

 _"I'm sorry, what was that?"_

"I said the scavenger gets one portion." Unkar Plutt rumbled, sneering. "An she should be lucky she's getting even tha-GAH!

A scarred fist crashed through the grate, locked around the crolute's throat, hauling him up and forward almost instantaneously. Through the grate. Rey was still wondering just how the blond had managed to do that when Naruto tugged **even harder,** dragging the hulking alien out of paddock and pressing his forehead to that of the junkboss. His odd comment about Plutt cheating her suddenly seemed like a distant memory now, as she watched the battered blond stare down the much larger entity.

For a terrible moment, nothing happened.

Then, incredibly Naruto smiled.

"You meant **one hundred** portions for that salvage, right?" his voice was oddly calm-almost pleasant even-lacking even the slightest amount of menace as he spoke. "Not one?" His opposite hand rose slowly, crushing the comlink in his hand like a piece of flimsiplast. Those scarred fingers opened slowly, allowing Unkar to see the sundered scrap tumble down to the ground. When the blond looked up from the mangled pile of circuit, his smile was decidedly frosty.

"Well?"

"Y-Yes!" the alien sputtered! "One hundred portions!"

"And you're going to _GENEROUSLY_ share the rest of your stash with the good folks behind us?" Naruto continued genially, blue eyes twinkling.

Plutt immediately bristled.

"Now see here-

A clenched fist dented the wall beside Plutt's head.

"I...ah...I mean yes, of course!"

"Right, then." With a grunt, Naruto tossed him down like a sack of rotten garbage. "Now pay the nice lady for her WONDERFUL salvage and shut the hell up."

Rey stared after him, stupified.

Her body distantly registered the new rations and went through the motions; her arms furtively scooping them up into her bag, legs hastening after the hobbling blond. It wasn't difficult; even at what he would probably insist was a "fast walk" Naruto still moved painfully slow even with the aid of her staff and she caught up with him easily.

"Why did you do that?"

Another grunt.

"Don't like cheaters."

Without another word, the broken shinobi limped away, favoring his remaining leg and leaning heavily on the staff. Rey followed a moment later, frowning. Only then did she noticed the weapon the blond was holding in what was supposedly his unoccupied hand. Where had he gotten that? She didn't recall him buying any such thing after she'd shown them to him. So where had he-

"So...this is a blaster." his musings interrupted her. "Looks nice."

...yes?" she frowned. "Wait, you didn't!"

"I wanted one. So I took fatso's when he wasn't looking."

 _"Naruto!"_

He grinned.

"What? Its not like he'll need it anymore...now...

...lets go get me a new leg!"

"You are aware that she just has the parts." Rey pointed out. "I'll have to cobble something together. IF I can cobble something together."

The blond's face fell, his spirits sinking like a stone cast into a lake.

"Crap."

"Have a little faith!" she reprimanded him.

"Where you're concerned, I think _faith_ is the problem...

"I resent that!"

It would prove to an unusual outing indeed...

 _...an unusual, marvelous journey that had only just begun._

 **A/N: Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed one for the interlude. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any buildings around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!**

 **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW! Tis a shocker!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"Kill them-_

 _"HEY!"_

 _Ren's head snapped up as a sharp cry rang through the night. In the same instant, a boulder the size of a human head smashed Captain Phasma off her feet and slammed her into the shuttle. Collapsing with an audible grunt, the stormtrooper fell. She did not rise again._

 _Ren didn't care; his eyes were decidedly elsewhere._

 _Cast in the light of a smoldering homestead, a lone figure stood, right had extended._

 _Perhaps that wasn't the right word._

 _This young man didn't so much stand as he seemed to tower; rise from the very flames themselves, shaking off the soot and smoke as though it were made of flimsy sticks. He shook himself roughly, like a wet nekku cleaning its coat. He looked like little more than some homeless vagabond; with his torn coat and battered appearance. In his hand he clutched a slim black rod, seemingly little more than a walking stick. By all rights, he didn't look like a threat. But it was the eyes, those eerie, angry blue eyes, that warned of something more._

 _"Oi."_

 _A lone finger thrust itself in his direction, pointing._

 _Accusing._

 _"The hell is wrong with you?" the intruder demanded in a loose, drawling voice. "These folks ain't done anything deserving of execution. Let 'em go." Let them go? Preposterous. Ren scoffed. In his mind, this wasn't an execution; this was only a proper chastisement, a punishment for standing against order in the chaos._

 _"They're guilty of crimes against the First Order."_

 _"The fuck is that?" came the spitting reply. "You know what? Nevermind-I don't care._ _Look, I'm not in the best mood right now, punk." the words were a growl. "So I'll say this once. Leave the villagers and beat it. Or don't." he shrugged, hefting his weapon. "Makes no difference to me."_

 _Incredulous, the dark side user scoffed._

 _...do you have any idea who you're threatening?"_

 _"Not a damn clue. But," to his eyes the whiskered warrior merely twitched; just the slightest movement of his arm-of his eerie black rod-and the stormtrooper who'd fired found himself sporting a smoking hole in his helmet. An awful moment of silence passed between them. "I don't like being shot at." The rest backpedaled away from their comrade's corpse, baffled. The blond spun his weapon once, and grunted, balancing on a leg that looked like it had been cobbled together from spare parts._

 _His smile, it one could call that expression such, reminded Ren of a hungry rancor._

 _"Anyone else? Didn't think so."_

 _Behind the mask, Kylo Ren frowned._

 _"Who...are you?"_

 _"Doesn't matter." Blue eyes snapped into sinister red slits._ _"I've changed my mind, anyway."_

 _"You have." Ren deadpanned._

"Yeah."

 _Vzzzm!_

 _Even with all the might of the Darkness at his command, Kylor barely ignited his lightsaber in time; the vents had only just opened when the stranger's staff slammed down into his weapon. Incredibly it didn't cut clean through; instead sparks ignited, spraying wildly as saber and staff vied against one another._

 _Ren's blond foe leaned forward across their deadlocked weapons._

 _Then he hissed._

 _Five._

 _Little._

 _Words._

 ** _"I'm gonna kick your ass."_**

 **R &R! =D**


	3. Sins of our Fathers

**A/N: I'M NOT DEAD! Ahem, sorry, sorry, sorry about that. Couldn't help myself. I've been on a wee bit of a hiatus as of late, enjoying time off and healing up after sustaining some injuries. BUT I'm alive! And though my legs might be busted up, my spirit hasn't faltered in the slightest. I've also seen the Force Awakens several times, so if you haven't seen it yet SPOILERS ABOUND WITHIN! I seriously suggest you see it, though. It was great!**

 **Now, someone asked about Naruto having the force, or teaching Rey jutsu, etc. To answer the question, well, its complicated. The sage's chakra belongs solely to Naruto. Even if we're talking 'bout regular chakra here, I'm not sure that's just something you could TEACH to a random stranger without an intensive regiment. As to Naruto even wielding the Force itself, well, this chapter should illuminate that aspect, a bit.**

 **Now, I proudly present the next chapter of...**

 **...Not So Far Away!**

 **...make of it what you will! On another note, this story starts approximately a few months before the events of T** **he Force Awakens...hope ya like it! I tried to keep everyone in character, given that a certain someone suffers a tragedy in this chapter...but I humbly ask that you be nice and enjoy the story! Yes, yes, yes, Naruto is NOT overpowered in this one, so don't worry...**

 **...and remember, he's still recovering from a bad loss...**

 _"What are you making?"_

 _"Honestly? I'm not sure."_

 _"How can you build something and **not** know what it is?"_

 _"I just can, I guess."_

 _~Naruto and Rey._

 **Sins of our Fathers**

 _"I don't like this."_

"You don't have to like it to use it. Now hold still."

 _"Hush."_

Naruto blinked from his prone position on the table, a look of utter shock overcoming his irritated features. "Did you just _shush-_

Rey reached up and swatted him on the nose.

"Ow!"

 _"Shh!"_

The scavenger exhaled testily to herself, blowing a stray strand of dark hair out of her eyes. Naruto's words registered little more than a distant echo to her now; because her mind was decidedly elsewhere, focused on the task at hand. Delicate fingers probed circuits and components, questing, twisting, turning. Syn had come through with the parts in exchange for a pair of old servomotors, but she lacked the expertise to make what they needed. That task fell to Rey, a chore that had consumed her attention for the last three days and if, she was perfectly honest, fascinated her to no end.

How very strange!

She'd never even remotely attempted something of this magnitude before; and a tiny part of her warmed to the challenge with childlike enthusiasm. Building a functional leg was one thing, anyone could do that with the right parts. But attaching the leg to a ravaged stump, securing it, and forcing it to function? It tested every bit of expertise she'd acquired over the years-but she remained confident in her skills. Surely there had to be a way. There just had to be...

Naruto protested once more:

"I _really_ don't like this."

Something in his voice made Rey take pity on him.

"You don't _have_ to like it." she reminded him gently, adjusting another motivator, tweaking it to the left. "Its just a stopgap until we can get you something better." She daren't say if for fear of dashing his already slim hope of recovery. Rey could understand his discomfort; having most of your leg replaced with synthetics wasn't something she envied. When said synthetics were little more than barely-functional junk cobbled together out of discount parts-well, one got the point. Naruto wouldn't have anything resembling full functionality unless he got off-planet.

Strangely enough, that thought saddened, her somehow.

What would she do if he actually _left?_ Stop him? How? She'd only known him for a few cycles, now. It shouldn't matter. People passed through her life all the time. She was a loner. Always had been. Yet the thought of being alone again was...unpleasant. It made her heart wrench with all sort of unpleasantness. In the span of only a few short weeks the blond's snark and dry humor had become an integral part of her life. She hadn't realized just how much she'd missed _talking_ to someone until this brash boy had crashed-quite literally!-into her life. By the sands, what was she going to do once he was _gone?_

Ironically, Naruto saved her from that very thought.

"Oh, so its "we", now, is it?" the blond snarked, staring at the ceiling. "I was under the impression that you couldn't stand me."

"You have your moments." Rey quipped. Another tweak, and satisfaction flooded her as she slapped the casing shut. "There. Try it out."

"You sure?"

"I'm the best damn scavenger on this planet." she replied, supreme in her confidence. "I know what I'm doing." Mostly. She'd never crafted something so complex before; she could only hope that she'd make the proper adjustments or Naruto was never going to let her hear the end of it. As it was, maimed ninja stowed his retort and looked at her for a long, piercing instant. At length, he nodded.

"Alright."

Then, with great care, he pulled himself off the table and stood on both feet.

 _Disaster._

For a critical moment Naruto wobbled wildly, unused to the odd weight of his new limb." Gah! Shit!" Arms flailing, he struggled to correct himself, lest he crash face first into the door. Incredibly, he regained his balance a nanosecond later. The look of boyish delight on his face broke her heart. The idea that something so simply as a prosthetic leg could make someone so happy was beyond her; but in that instant the dark clouds all but vanished from Naruto's face.

To Naruto, it felt like he was whole again.

Well, mostly whole.

"Well." he swore quietly. "I'll be damned, 'ttebayo!"

He took a slow, tottering step forward, testing the leg's weight.

Then another.

Another.

Another still.

"Heh! This isn't half-URK!"

For all of five steps the synthetic implement had born Naruto's weight and strength.

On the sixth it fell apart, sending him sprawling on the floor in a clatter of parts and pieces. For a mortified eternity Rey stood there, petrified, frozen between mortification and amusement. Eventually the former won out and she tossed him her staff to aid in his standing. Unfortunately, she misjudged her aim.

It whacked him right in the head.

"Sorry, sorry!" the words spilled out of her in a rush as she hurried to help him. "I'll make the next one better, I promise!"

"The hell, Rey?!" the words weren't sharp at all; indeed, it took her a moment to realize Naruto was actually _laughing._ "You'd better! I'm using the next one to _jump!"_

Before long, she was laughing, too.

* * *

 _(Later that Night...)_

* * *

Nights on Jakku were unpleasant...

...to say the least.

Not only in the literal sense, but in the physical as well. By day the sands were blazing, enough to scorch . At night, without the sun to heat the dunes, the temperatures dropped dangerously. If you didn't have a proper shelter you might survive the long night, but without _heat?_ You were out of luck. Rey considered herself lucky in that regard, she'd long since rigged up a generator to provide some semblance of warmth to the battered AT-AT she called home. Of course, that generator had only ever needed to provide warmth for one person.

Not two.

"Damnit."

Rey swore softly as faint blast of frigid air snaked beneath the too-small blanket and snarled at her toes and, reluctantly, sat up.

Tonight was worse than most; the wind whipped and howled across the dunes like a mournful beast, viciously etching itself into every crack and crevice of their small home. Worse, the generator had gone on the fritz in typical fashion. No matter how hard she huddled against herself, the thin blanket that normally provided some sparse amount of warmth for Rey did nothing to ease her chills. It was one of the few time when she found herself actively regretting not securing something in the way of warmer clothes for the night.

At least Naruto didn't seem to mind the cold; he refused to elaborate, but for some damn reason he didn't wake from chills as she did when the night got nasty. The thin cot that they now shared afforded just enough in the way of room to prevent her from outright freezing to death. While Naruto snored loudly, dead to all the world.

Lucky bastard.

Steeling herself once more against the chill, the scavenger screwed her eyes shut...

 _"Sakura!"_

A soft hiss jerked her back to wakefulness like a lightning bolt.

"Naruto?" she whispered cautiously into the dark.

Reaching for a light confirmed that the blond was still very much nearby, and shaking like a leaf.

But not from the cold.

He was dreaming.

Again.

When she tried to touch him he recoiled explosively, crying out, "Don't! Its a trap!" Rey flinched slightly, until she realized his words hadn't been directed at her. _Sakura._ He'd said the name twice now. Just who was this "Sakura" individual? One could only wonder. Whomever she was-one could only assume as much-she clearly had him rattled. Cautiously, Rey pushed herself up on her elbows and dared to drape a significant part of the blanket across his shuddering torso, watching him intently for another outburst.

She hadn't long to wait.

"No," Naruto thrashed onto his side, gritting his teeth in agony, "I didn't mean to...wasn't my fault...

The broken shinobi shivered again in his sleep despite the blanket, whimpering as though he'd seen something utterly horrific, a force so terrifying that it frightened even him. Such thoughts unsettled her deeply, more than she preferred to admit. Gone was the snarky, smart-mouthed shinobi who always had something to say, the wayward warrior who'd become so damnably cynical about everyone and everything. There was none of that here, none of it all, and his torment moved her to untold pity.

"C'mon," she nudged him firmly, feeling wretchedly guilty as his face screwed up in agony. "Fight it. Its not real-

That made it even worse.

 _"KAGUYA! I'll kill you!"_

Kaguya?

Now _that_ was an odd name, and apparently a hated one that. Ignoring the vicious vitriol that spewed forth from Naruto's lips Rey stroked his cheek, massaging the whiskers on the right side of his face. Her hand came away wet with tears. The ninja was crying in his sleep. How did one even do that?!

"Naruto?" she breathed, softer now, so as not to provoke another outburst. "Relax. Its only a dream."

More gibberish followed, a rapid string of syllables she couldn't hope to decipher. His hands clenched into claws, crooking and clasping at some unknown force she couldn't see. Desperately trying to rip at something. Or someone, Rey mused, chilled by such an idea. Naruto never spoke of where he'd come from and she didn't begrudge him that-she wasn't too keen on speaking of her own past, either. But _her_ past didn't torment her in frightful nightmares, awful terrors haunting him even when he slept.

"Its alright...

When that didn't calm him, Rey didn't know what to do. In lieu of thought, her body simply...moved. Thin arms wrapped around his stiff form and held fast, her body spooning against his in warmth and comfort. Naruto grabbed her right arm so hard she was certain every bone would shatter, but she held fast. And though he continued to mutter, his cries gradually grew softer as she held to him, his grip looser until at last, Rey found her arm free again. She stroked his head soothingly, small fingers tracing the ninja's matted locks.

"You're safe."

Trapped in the throes of his nightmare, Naruto was powerless to respond verbally, but he quieted at her touch.

The terrors troubled him no more that night.

Rey was also chuffed to discover that Naruto was something of a human furnace.

* * *

 _(...)_

* * *

Rey woke the next morning to find herself alone and wrapped in the blanket they shared.

Of Naruto, there was no sign. Indeed, now that it was dawn all traces of the nightmare seemed to have been forgotten by Naruto altogether; for the blond was nowhere to be found. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Rey silently rebuked herself for last night's foolishness. It was her own fault, really. He'd been hurting and she wanted to help him. She'd ruined everything. Now she was certain things would be positively awkward between them all over again. By the sands, where was he?

Perhaps he'd gone out...?

 _"Shit!"_

The distant clatter of machine parts and muffled cursing said otherwise.

Discarding the blanket, she changed into a pair of worn leathers and departed the small compartment that served as their sleeping quarters.

Sure enough Naruto wasn't far; he'd taken up residence near the back shielding of the AT-AT or what she supposed used to be shielding. It had something to do with that table he'd scavenged the other day. His back to her, he remained firmly focused on the little workbench, deaf to all of the world and its wants.

...hello?"

For a fleeting moment she feared Naruto was trying to reconstruct his leg, but no, further inspection revealed that the device in his hands was much too small to function as such. Ah. It was that odd project of his, the one he'd been keeping secret from her ever since he'd received that crystal from Syn. This time he'd didn't shove her away. He actually let her come close, penetrating his personal space, enough to risk a good look at the notched, orange-and-red-rimmed creation he was crafting.

In the days gone by he'd acquired himself a dark, tattered jacket the color of blood and a pair of dark pants to go with it; it was the closest thing to his old attire he could get. That he'd discarded the former over one of the racks and rolled up the sleeves showed just how intent he was on his...whatever he was trying to create.

"What're you working on?" she asked, absently snatching up a nearby cup of caff from the steamer.

"Not sure." Naruto didn't begrudge her it as he turned back to his "project", frowning quietly. "I think I'll know once its finished, though."

Rey found herself slightly irritated by his nonchalance. "That doesn't make any sense."

Her companion barked a laugh.

"Tell me about it...

He glowered at her and she dissolved into hysterics.

"Its not funny!"

"Yes, it is!"

With a wry smile, Naruto willed himself to return to his work. Or perhaps the work willed him to return to it. He wasn't sure. This little experiment of his had taken on a life of its own in the past few days...

His hands seemed to move of their own accords, pulling things apart, attaching others, only to disconnect them all over again. Naruto supposed his actions seemed unnatural to the scavenger and rightfully so. Even he didn't rightly understand it himself. Something compelled him to do so, a niggling urge, an itch he couldn't scratch. It was there whenever he dared to draw on his Senjutsu, sans the visions. He couldn't explain it. It felt as if someone's hand was just...just _there_ guiding him, aiding him, telling him what to do. It felt right. His fingers nearly knew what they were doing before he could even think. Building. Shaping.

Molding.

Rey watched him for a few minutes, trying to understand what, exactly, he was crafting. It didn't look very impressive, but she'd seen that orange crystal slip inside the housing like it was born to be there. In fact, the longer she looked at it, the more it seemed almost...familiar to her. That was impossible of course she told herself, she'd never seen such

It was beginning to look like a hilt.

Realization struck her all at once.

Rey inhaled sharply.

"That's...

"What?" Naruto blinked, regarding her curiously. "Its what?"

The answer eeled through Rey's grasp before she could grab ahold of it. In the end she was left with faint images and oily sounds, none of which made any sense to her. But what? Why did some small part of her insist that this thing was so damnably important? She couldn't find an answer, and beneath Naruto's questing stare, eventually yielded.

"Well?"

Reluctantly, she offered a shrug.

"I swear I've seen it somewhere before...

* * *

 _(...?)_

* * *

Days passed.

Days became weeks.

Time flowed like the wind.

In a world Not so Far Away.

Naruto found he still had a talent for making trouble whenever it suited him. He also discovered a keen talent for blasters when they weren't aimed at him! He was even accurate with the damn things...most of the time. It was a chore to learn something new, but he threw himself into the task with a singular determination nonetheless while Rey worked diligently on his new leg, adjusting, modifying, shaping it into something she would be proud of of; something that would serve him well.

Eventually, she succeeded and they drank to her success.

Their uneasy alliance was struck down that very day and in its place came friendship and trust.

And for a time, all was well.

Until that night.

* * *

 _(...)_

* * *

 _"Hyah!"_

Naruto flung a fist forward with power and precision, droplets of stale sweat slicking forward from his arm to evaporate on the breeze. He barely noticed them, stepping forward into the third kata. The next blow carried his artificial foot forward, obliterating a nearby dune in the distance, shredding it to dusty particles. Pausing, he took a moment to observe his false foot, staring at the gleaming matte-black metal in the faint light of the crude fire he'd erected. This one was the third such creation Rey had crafted for him. What was that old saiying? Third time's the charm?

Naruto supposed it was.

Tonight was one of the more moderate nights on Jakku, one of the few in which he could garner some form of exercise. It felt good to stretch again-his new leg included. The limb wasn't perfect-far from it-but the limb suited his needs. He could run again, _jump_ again, move with all the speed and power he'd worked to hard to garner over a long career.

All thanks to Rey.

Rey.

Funny how a simple scavenger had changed so much for him and yet so very little at the same time. He didn't know what to make of her. She was fierce, independent, determined. She didn't take any flak from him and she gave as good as she got, it not more so. Perhaps it was her enthusiasm, but the more time he spent with her, the less bitter he became. Oh, his failures of the past were still a shadow knife in his gut, but bound his bitterness was, a feeble flame compared to what it had been some weeks before.

Against all odds, he actually found himself _enjoying_ her company. He'd even admitted as much the other day when she'd called him on it.

 _"Yeah, you're pretty cool." He'd relented under her insufferable smirk. "Happy, now?"_

For some reason, Rey seemed terribly pleased about all that.

 _...the hell am I thinking?'_

Frowning, he forced another movement out of himself, slicing through the sands in a vicious riposte.

His strength was returning, if not necessarily his chakra. Sometimes it was there, other times it wasn't. He could consistently create his staff six-out-of-ten-times now, at least. What _had_ remained constant were voices. They were there, waiting for him, whenever he tapped his Senjutsu. Like tiny feather whispers in the back of his brain, poking him, prodding. Just like his project. The little creation was nearly complete, yet he still felt that it lacked something...more. So it sat unfinished with the rest of his tools, awaiting a day when he could bring himself back to the odd task of completing his work.

His chakra might've faded to a dull flicker, but his senses...those were still sharp as ever.

Speaking of sharp...

...?"

In the distance he heard them all at once; pained cries, the sharp staccato of blaster fire. Perhaps "heard" wasn't the right word. The sounds struck him as a sixth sense of sorts, painful images burning in the back of his brain like a living brand, hot and searing. Claws of anger and noise sank their hooks into him, turning him away from the AT-AT that he and Rey shared. For a long moment he stared back at the broken hulk, considering what to do, thinking, pondering.

Exhaling bitterly, he started striding towards the sounds.

Before long he found himself sprinting.

* * *

 _(Several Moments Later...)_

* * *

"Orders, sir?"

Kylo Ren observed the broken prisoners before him, coldly pondering.

They had fought well, nearly to the last. He'd never admit as much of course, but they had. Their resolve was something to be admired he supposed; if the soldiers of the First Order could fight with such ferocity, they'd be a force to be reckoned with indeed. Of course, these rebels had chosen the wrong side. That made them traitors. And there was only one fate for traitors.

With a dismissive gesture, he gave Phasma the order she so desired.

"Kill them-

"HEY!"

Ren's head snapped up as a sharp cry rang through the night, angry and piercing like a blaster bolt. In the same instant, a boulder the size of a human head smashed Captain Phasma off her feet and slammed her into the shuttle. Collapsing with an audible grunt, the stormtrooper fell. She did not rise again. A blow like that would render her insensate, Ren estimated, but not kill her. Live or die, she wasn't his concern.

He didn't care; his eyes were decidedly elsewhere.

Cast in the light of a smoldering homestead, a lone figure stood, right hand extended, feet planted firmly apart.

Perhaps that wasn't the right word.

This young man didn't so much stand as he seemed to tower; rise from the very flames themselves, shaking off the soot and smoke as though it were made of flimsy sticks. He shook himself roughly, like a wet nekku cleaning its coat. He looked like little more than some homeless vagabond; with his torn coat and battered appearance, his head sheltered from view by a tight hood. In his hand he clutched a slim black rod, seemingly little more than a walking stick. By all rights, he didn't look like a threat. But it was the eyes, those eerie, angry blue eyes, that warned of something more.

"Oi."

A lone finger thrust itself in his direction, pointing.

Accusing.

"The hell is wrong with you?" the intruder demanded in a loose, drawling voice. "These folks ain't done anything deserving of execution. Let 'em go." Let them go? Preposterous. Ren scoffed. In his mind, this wasn't an execution; this was only a proper chastisement, a punishment for standing against order in the chaos. That anyone would suggest otherwise was the very height of arrogance.

"They're guilty of crimes against the First Order."

"What. The. Fuck. Is. That?" came the incredulous reply. "You know what? Nevermind-I don't care." the man was descending the shattered hill now, fury gleaming white-hot in his azure eyes. "Look, I'm not in the best mood right now, punk." the words were a growl. "So I'll say this once. Leave the villagers and beat it. Or don't." he shrugged, hefting his weapon. "Makes no difference to me."

Incredulous, the dark side user scoffed.

...do you have any idea who you're threatening?"

"Not a damn clue. But," to his eyes the whiskered warrior merely twitched; just the slightest movement of his arm-of his eerie black rod-and the stormtrooper who'd fired found himself sporting a smoking hole in his helmet. An awful moment of silence passed between them. "I don't like being shot at." The rest backpedaled away from their comrade's corpse, baffled. The blond spun his weapon once, and grunted, balancing on a leg that looked like it had been cobbled together from spare parts.

His smile, it one could call that expression such, reminded Ren of a hungry rancor.

"Anyone else? Didn't think so."

Behind the mask, Kylo Ren frowned.

"Who...are you?"

"Naruto. Doesn't matter." Blue eyes snapped into sinister red slits. "I've changed my mind, anyway."

"You have." Ren deadpanned.

"Yeah."

Vzzzm!

Even with all the might of the Darkness at his command, Kylor barely ignited his lightsaber in time; the vents had only just opened when the stranger's staff slammed down into his weapon. Incredibly it didn't cut clean through; instead sparks ignited, spraying wildly as saber and staff vied against one another. Incredulous behind the mask, the would-be-sith gawped at the black rod. Absurd! Any other weapon should have been shorn in half by his blade! Not parried...like this!

Then, to his utter dismay, his foe leaned forward across their deadlocked weapons.

And he hissed.

Six.

Little.

Words.

 _ **"I'm gonna kick your ass, bub."**_

What followed was a deceptively simple maneuver-one Ben barely had time to counteract. Naruto spun and flung the battered cloak into Ren's face in a move that carried him away from the dark-side wielder all at once, disguising a feint of his own. Ren came in high, and in the same instant, Naruto swept low. The sheer force behind the blow numbed Ren's arm to the elbow and set his fingers screaming in protest against his blade's hilt in spite of his best efforts.

Gritting his teeth, Kylo pivoted and swung his blade into a savage slash to meet the blond's cheek, eliciting a sharp recoil on the staff-wielder's part. The acrid stench of burnt flesh filled the air and for the first time since they'd met, his foe's face lost its pleasant grin.

When his head snapped back around, all traces of mirth were gone from his visage, replaced by an eerie, bloodthirsty snarl.

"Have I touched a nerve?"

Ren responded with a vicious blast of dark side energy, flattening his foe to the floor. At least, that was the intention. But instead of being ground to a pulpy red mass, the force push met resistance. Instead of crushing all before it, the force merely drove his aggressor back a handful of steps. Then something pushed back.

Like a giant wave

Slowly the blond stood, and to Ren's dismay, he watched the ugly wound slither shut.

"Okay." came the grunt. "Space magic. Neat."

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

Seething, Kylo stalked after the battered blond in a controlled fury, leading with a flurry of slanted slashes that pushed his foe back on the defensive. Not one of them met their mark. Staff met saber-met-staff again and anew each clash sending blood-red sparks skittering across the sands. Frustration emboldened him and he fed on it, using his hatred for his new-found foe as a catalyst, driving his enemy into the ruins of the village. Hemming him in. Whether it was known to him or not, this tactic proved most effective, restricting the broad strokes of his arms to little more than frenzied parries and awkward bocks.

Until the blond brought a house down on him.

It came completely out of nowhere; one moment he was driving the blond back, the next the man's arm snapped up and Ren's vision was filled with a crumbling homestead.

Caught unprepared, he foisted the debris away with a forceful pulse of energy-

-and out of of the dust, a shadow slammed into him, whooping loudly.

Now it was Ren who found himself on the back foot, desperately trying to weather the ferocious storm created by his own actions. There was no form to Naruto's attack, no elegance, just an assault of pure aggression, a hateful presence that existed for no other reason than to beat him into the ground. This was a far cry from fighting a peace-loving padawan or a jedi, famed for their non-aggressive approach. This...this was a hurricane, plain and true, and it wanted to render him a pulpy red mass on the ground.

And it was showing.

Shing!

Staff met saber again, but instead of committing himself to both hands this time the blond ducked low and took out his legs in a sweeping movement that could only be called a liquid blur. For a brief, tenuous moment, Ren found himself weightless, handing suspended in the air. Until a clawed hand closed around his face and levered him into the dirt with enough force to wake the dead. For the first time in a long time Kylo Ren found himself flat on his back. Pain ripped through him in a glorious, angry wave and he rode it to its climax, railing against the searing agony in his back.

"What the hell was that?" he scowled behind the protection of his mask.

"Ninja don't fight fair." the blond cat-called. "Haven't you heard?"

Ren spun his saber and lunged!

A vicious backhand was the blond's retort.

 _Crunch!_

"Owowowowow!" While it did dent Ren's helm and send him staggering away, Naruto's sharp hiss of pain was sweet, sweet satisfaction to his ears. "What the hell is that helmet made of, eh?!" Ren swiped at him with a roar to which Naruto narrowly stepped backward, allowing the blazing blade to carve an angry red furrow in the sand. Sand sprayed upwards, momentarily obscuring their vision.

It was then that the decisive blows were struck.

 _Whack!_

Naruto's staff swept out of the shadows and took Ren low and hard in the stomach, driving the breath from the man's lungs and forcing him to a knee In the same instant, his saber found flesh, a brutal crosscut tearing twin angry canyons through the unprotected chest of his foe. It was a fatal blow, Ren told himself. It had to be. Yet instead of falling, Naruto hissed and clocked him firmly on the back of his skull, stunning him, sending Ren's ears ringing beneath the mask. By the time he'd gathered himself up enough to move again, Naruto was already swooping down on him, whooping like a tusken raider.

In that moment he caught sight of his attacker's true face. Blue eyes gleamed red and angry, furious slits like blood leering down at him, cold and intent.

"You know," the battered ninja began hoarsely, "I was going to be the nice guy, here. Now...

"Now?"

 _...I'm not feeling so merciful."_

His was an altogether terrifying expression, and something in the force wielder snapped.

With everything he had, he pushed at the blond in the same instant that he cut down.

 _'I hate you!'_

That was his last thought before the blackness took him.

 **A/N: DOES REN SURVIVE?! DOES NARUTO?!**

 **Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed one for the interlude. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any buildings around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you! No preview this time!**

 **R &R! =D**


	4. Light in the Dark

**A/N: I! AM! BACK! BACK WITH REQUEST WEEK ONCE AGAIN! This weeks request? Updating this fic! Among others. So off we go!**

 **Also we need to address some nasty little reviews. Two in particular out of the dozens I've gotten.**

 **By 2200ss:**

 _Trying to find some Finn/Rey and Pie and I find this piece of shit. I hate this website intensely._

 **Seriously, bro? Why'd you even read it then? No constructive criticism at all, just blatant hate...**

 _Mithos Yggdrassil chapter 1 . Apr 28_

 _Typical. Nerfed!Naruto._

 **Again with the hate!**

 **See, stuff like THIS is why I have trouble updating, why I tend to vanish, if only to get away from the negativity. Ever try writing when you're upset? It doesn't work! AT! ALL! Its a two way street, people! Its impossible for me to write something when stuff like this keeps cropping up. I'm not one to block people over stuff like this, but to be blatantly attacked just for trying to write a story? For trying to entertain people? I write this stuff for YOU GUYS not for me, despite my poor health. And when I get relentlessly attacked for it, well...**

 **...it HURTS, to say the least.**

 **Alright, rant over. I'm just going to go cry in a corner...**

 **Now, someone asked about Naruto going to the dark side in this? Is it a possibility? Hmm. That depends. Remember, he is very, very VERY angry at a certain Goddess for screwing up his life. Add to that the whispers he's hearing, and the new wellspring of power he's only just begun to tap into and all I can say is...he's toeing a perilous line. It remains to be seen whether he crosses it, or not, dear readers.**

 **Now, I proudly present the next chapter of...**

 **...Not So Far Away!**

 **...make of it what you will!**

 _"Why is it orange?"_

 _"I think you mean...why the hell not?"_

 _~Naruto and Rey._

 **Light in the Dark**

FN-2187 _was going to die._

He'd come to terms with it mere minutes before, seen his death in the eyes of the man who'd buried Lord Ren under a mountain of rubble. He knew precious little of Jedi or Sith or their strength, only that he wanted NO PART of this. But he found himself all but frozen, rooted, powerless to take so much as a single step backwards in retreat. He could only look on in muted horror, as the two titans clashed mere yards away, flinging their bodies through impossibly complex maneuvers, always moving, ever shifting, each striving to take the other's head.

And for the life of him, he couldn't get away from them!

Stricken by equal parts terror and sheer awe, Eight-seven watched helplessly as the pair raged about the crumbling village like a pair of angry rancor. Bringing devastation to everything they touched in their wake. None dared fire on either for fear of hitting their liege and for that 2817 was glad; because _had_ they fired, he would've been branded a coward for simply standing here, frozen in fear. But could one really blame him? This was so far out of his league-or any of his blaster toting comrades for that matter-that he knew the moment they raised their blasters they were as good as dead.

More than once the duo came within mere _inches_ of him, saber and staff clashing with single-minded determination. For the life of him, he couldn't decide who he wanted to win. By rights, Lord Ren was his superior. But he'd nearly ordered them to fire on civilians. Civilians! Who ordered such a thing?! They were meant to be on the side of good, of order, not...whatever this was!

When the final blow came it was abrupt and swift.

 _"Gotcha!"_

The interloper laughed and sidestepped a frenzied lunge by Lord Ren and brought his staff around in a crushing blow; one that took the aspiring Sith low in the gut and disarmed him all at once, driving him to his knees even as the sabet clattered to the sands. In the next instant the stranger capitalized on the opening and spun, putting the full weight of his body into a single debilitating strike. 2187 wanted to look away, he truly, _truly_ did, but his eyes betrayed him, staring to the very last, watching in horrified awe as that staff swung down...down...DOWN...

 **CLUNK!**

With an audible noise of staff striking metal _-the hardened steel of Ren's helmet to be precise-_ the formerly cloaked stranger clobbered the pretentious little twat across the head, driving him to the ground in a heap. The stranger hesitated for a moment waiting for his opponent to rise, then hit him again, for good measure. Eight-seven thought he heard a soft groan. When Ren did not rise again, the blond planted a foot on his back and forced him over onto his stomach. No resistance was offered.

That last hit had laid him out cold.

A pall of silence fell over the battlefield with the realization.

No one moved, neither villager nor stormtrooper, as the victor stood, wiping a bit of blood out of his right eye. Cutting blue eyes cut across the battlefield, narrowing upon the troopers themselves. When a hand rose, a few rifles trained on him. Not a one opened fire, remembering the fate of their comrade. The smoking hole in his head at the hands of the blond stood as a stark reminder of what would happen. That said blond seemed almost eager for them to make a second attempt wasn't lost on them, much less FN-2187.

Even so, what came next taxed their-and his-resolve to the breaking point.

"Oi! I'm keeping this!" Naruto announced, hoisting Ren's stolen lightsaber high. "Spoils of war and whatnot. Now," he continued with a polite smile, hoisting Ren's prone body up by the scruff of his neck, "I need you ol' boys to do me a favor."

By way of explanation he gave the aspiring Sith below him a mighty kick with his artificial foot, send him skidding across the ruined homestead. Eight-seven finally found his feet as the battered sith skidded to a halt at his feet, cracked helmet lolling painfully to one side. When he looked up, he found that the young was somehow _closer_ than before. Only a few yards away now, he planted himself firmly between them and the villagers, staff in hand, Ren's discarded saber in the other. As he looked on, he ignited the weapon, casting his face in pale red relief.

Something in Eight-seven quailed at the sight.

"Alright," he called loudly, his voice echoing in the empty air, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Easy way? You all walk out of here alive with your illustrious way. Hard way-

 _Ping!_

His ragged saber leaned three degrees to the right, expertly deflecting a stray scarlet bolt back at the unfortunate shooter's chest. The man dropped with a choking gurgle.

-that happens." He finished smugly. "So, would you lads kindly get mister broody and miss bucket-head the hell out of here, for me?" Naruto quipped, brandishing his new blade with a humming flourish. "If they want a rematch, they know the place. Oh, and tell them if I catch them shooting civilians again, I'll break their necks. Great? _Great!"_

Even then, not one dared to move.

Naruto scowled.

"Well, shoo!"

Nothing.

 _"Go on, get!"_

A few, more fearful troopers trickled back towards the blast shuttles, but most-like 2187-remained rooted. Judging by that growl though, it wouldn't long until he set upon them. They hastened their pace, that slow-walk becoming a jog, nay, a sprint as the blond drew a blaster and discharged a few wild shots at their feet. Those lucky troopers few carrying Lord Ren and Captain Phasma all but bounded up into the man's shuttle, and the relative safety it offered. It was those choice few who'd tried to drag an equally unresponsive Poe Dameron with them that found themselves accosted by the sociopathic blond.

They weren't nearly as lucky.

"Hold it, bub!"

The lead guard carrying the man's legs found himself shot straight through the back of the skull before he could so much as take another step. His body dropped like a sack of potatoes, and so too did the resistance pilot he'd been carrying. His fellows drew up short, wincing as a smattering of shots nipped at their heels.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Naruto tsked, waving the weapon at the rear guard with thinly veiled menace. "Leave the prisoner, boys. Let him sleep off his beating. He isn't yours to take."

At this, one of the troopers finally found his nerve.

"You can't just-

 _VZZM!_

Naruto stepped past him in one fell movement, the red bar of his blade cutting toward's the aggressive man's chest.

It stopped a hairsbreadth away.

"I can, and I am. Drop. Him." he warned. "Or I drop all of you."

A burst of killing intent and the rest of them did just that; all but discarding the unconscious pilot to dash toward the nearest ramp, racing away at top speed. Eight-seven nearly followed his brothers, but something held him back. What awaited him if he went up that ramp? A life of following orders that he didn't like? More of this? There was no doubt in his mind; Lord Ren would lead a reprisal mission, try to finish what he'd so foolishly started, dragging Eight-Seven and his brothers back into battle without thought for their lives.

And this time, he might not be so lucky.

In the end, Eight found himself still standing on Jakku as the last shuttle lifted off into the night. A betrayal he was certain would be reported to his superiors. Or former superiors. Damnit. He tried telling himself that he hadn't stayed put out of fear, or even something so simple as a desire for self-preservation. No, he'd remained for another reason.

"Why are you still here?"

His trembling knees told a different story.

Eight-Seven froze, the blood turning to glacial ice in his veins.

"I...um...ah...

Naruto turned his head, frowning.

"What's your name?"

Something like cognizance stirred in the trooper's fear-addled brain. Fumbling fingers fiercely fought the seals of his helmet as he hastened to remove it. Perhaps if the stranger saw his visage instead of another faceless bucket he'd not be so quick to kill him? Whatever the case, he thought he caught a spark of pity in that blazing blue gaze when he finally got the damn thing off. Raw terror compelled the troop to move, to do something anything, to save his life.

And so he did.

His hand rose sharply, saluting without thinking.

"FN-2187, sir."

The blond blinked.

"FN-no, no, screw that." he turned his head and spat a bloody wad of saliva onto the ground. "That's too damn long. I'm calling you Finn. Why are you still here?"

"I...I can't go with them, sir."

"Stop calling me sir." the blond admonished. "And why not?"

Finn bristled.

Did he dare lie to him?

Dark eyes flicked to the still active weapon.

Truth it was, then.

"I didn't sign up for this." He started slowly, never taking his eyes off the blazing blade. "I wanted to restore order. Not...kill innocent people! It...is not right." Sputtering, he waved a hand in the direction of the villagers and their ruined homes, wincing slightly at the myriad of glares he received in return. "But you did. You stood up to...him. Y-Y-You did the right thing." He dare not speak Ren's name, merely the thought of the unstable dark-sider threatened to conjure him and undo his fledgling courage all over again.

Naruto watched him for a long moment, scowling.

Abruptly, he nodded.

"Fine."

"Eh?"

"Alright, Finn." he relented, extinguishing the blade with a sigh, "You can stop shaking, now. I don't kill without reason, even these days. You want to be useful?" his neck twitched, regarding the prone form of one Poe Dameron. "You stay with that pilot over there. Lose the armor. And when he wakes up, you do everything in your power to help him on his way. Don't make me regret this." a finger prodded his chest, forcing him back half a step. "I'm giving you a chance. Its more than most get."

"What?"

"Don't just stand there. Or do! I don't care anymore. Fuck's sake...

Chuffed to find that he was going to live after all, the now-named Finn nearly lost his voice when the blond stormed past him. A quick word with one of the villagers, an outpouring of thanks for his efforts, and he went on his way, loping back across the dunes with a single-minded determination. The ex-trooper couldn't help but notice that the man was favoring his good leg.

"Where are _you_ going?" Finn called after the man who'd named him.

A rueful blue eye regarded him over one shoulder.

 _"To bed."_

* * *

 _(Several Hours Later...)_

* * *

Rey opened bleary eyes as a dark shadow detached itself from the blackness.

At first the scavenger didn't rightly realize who had entered her home; only when a shock of golden hair flickered in her peripherals did she allow herself to relax minutely. Naruto entered the AT-AT with much muttering and plenty of quiet cursing, banging about their little hovel with a racket she'd long since learned to ignore. The blond was simply incapable of being quiet when he was upset, something she resolved to ask him about at first light, soon as she was awake. Later, of course.

Sleep now, her brain decided.

Questions in the morning.

"Where'd you go?" she yawned when he finally slipped into the blankets beside her. The chill fled from her bones all at once as she snuggled up against him-purely for warmth of course she told herself-fingers splaying across the scarred plane of his chest with practiced ease until the numbed digits were nice and toasty. If he noticed her concern he didn't remark on it; his only response was to turn his head away from her, azure orbs peering up at the matte grey ceiling of their home with a quiet intensity.

"Places."

"Places?" another soft yawn stifled itself against his chest as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What kind of places?" And why did he smell of charred ozone? Had he been in a fight? So many questions, but the sweet lure of slumber was pervasive, invading her every thought, dulling her curiosity.

"I'll tell you tomorrow." he promised on a sigh. "First thing, scouts honor, 'ttebayo."

Rey hummed a quiet agreement of her own, surrendering to the lull of sleep.

As fate would have it, she actually found something the next morning.

Something that changed everything.

* * *

 _(...)_

* * *

Naruto woke the next morning to the high-pitched, frenzied chatter of droidspeak.

"Shh!" Rey's voice interposed itself upon the blackness of his dreams, "BB-8! You'll wake him."

A mournful note answered her chastisement.

Well, _he_ was certainly awake now!

"What in blazes...?"

Pushing back the thick covers-they'd easily been able to afford more since Plutt was outright terrified of him-and scrubbing sleep from his eyes, the battered blond turned his gaze upon the source of the ungodly ruckus taking place only a few feet from his head. At first, still bleary from deep sleep, he didn't know what he was looking at.

When he squinted down enough to see, he still didn't.

He found himself face to face with a ball.

No, not quite a ball.

The droid itself was a small, spherical little thing, all orange and white. Orange. Now that was a plus. Clearly whoever owned the little guy had a good fashion taste. A tiny head lay mounted atop the rolling base, which somehow only served to make it all the more adorable. Despite his initial misgivings, the crippled shinobi found himself lowering his guard. How could something so...round possibly be a threat? As Naruto looked on the little guy tumbled forward, chirping an inquiry.

"This is BB-8." Rey explained as she prepared breakfast. "I caught Teedo trying to scavenge him."

"Hope you kicked his ass."

"A little." she grinned.

"Thatta girl!"

"Want breakfast?"

"Hmm? Later. Wanna work, first." Naruto quipped intently, tumbling out of the thin cot that served as a bed and onto his feet. As ever, his attention went straight to his pet project. Food could always come later. Right now, he desperately wanted to puzzle this out while the latest epiphany still danced in his mind. Ren's stolen cross-guard lightsaber lay beside his creation and he was quietly struck by the similarities. Was this what he was trying to build? A blade of some sort?

Even now he could feel his fingers twitching, longing to take his new trophy apart, decipher its inner workings. Already, he could hear the whispers calling to him, guiding him, telling him what to strip from the insidious blade and what to keep, all so that he might-

"Where'd you get that?"

Aaaaaaand the moment was lost again.

Despairing the momentary lost of inspiration, the shinobi shot Rey a glower over his shoulder.

"Swiped it." he said, quietly hoping she'd let the matter be.

"From who?"

 _Ugh._

"A little teme. Called himself Kylo Ren. Name ring a bell?"

"BEEEEEEEEEEP!"

The diminutive little droid suddenly spun on its axis to face the blond, shrieking loudly for his attention. Naruto blinked, suddenly very glad he'd bothered to learn some measure of _droidese_ in the first place. After a few moments of this, he felt he understood enough of the measured sounds to suss out what the little automaton was trying to tell him.

"Oh, you know me?"

An affirmative bleat.

"I don't think we've met...?"

For all of his amusement, he still found himself frowning at the series of beeps and squeals that issued forth. Even then it took him a handful of seconds to decipher the gibberish. Rey looked on in silence with him as the droid finally ceased his frantic string of squeaks. Honestly, he was surprised the poor thing didn't drain its power cells outright from all that squawking!

"Wait, you were _there?_ But you ran off before we could finish the fight?"

BB-8 offered a plaintive whine.

"What fight?" Rey frowned.

"Just a little dust-up." Naruto deflected her query a touch too quickly, feigning an innocent smile. "Nothing special. Buncha punks tried to kill people. I stopped them. Can't we just leave it at that?" Clearly not, for BB-8 chose that moment to chime in, and his commentary proved far more colorful that the blond's. It also had the added effect of dashing Naruto's lie to shreds and had the scavenger's brow shooting straight up to her hairline. The silence was telling, chilling even.

"Naruto," she began softly, sweetly, "Details, please.

For a fleeting moment, the broken ninja actually found himself reminded of his old teammate, Sakura. She'd used that same tone more than once when he tried to keep things from her, missions or otherwise. Rey had the same look about her. The difference? While he was quite certain the scavenger could never inflict anything in the way of lasting damage on him, there was just something about the gleam in her eye.

He wasn't quite sure why, but in that instant, he feared her more.

"I may have...erm...killed a few guys, troopers, really...

BB-8 offered a flat squawk.

"You killed men from the FIRST ORDER?!"

"Not so loud, Rey-chan!" the whiskered warrior hissed, rubbing his right ear. "Jeez! Ow! What the hell, droid?! Why'd you rat me out, 'ttebayo?! Eh, a pilot? Oh, NOW you want answers?! Fine! I left somebody like that near the Kelvin Ravine. Looked pretty roughed up, last I saw him, he had a nasty head wound. Why? What's he to you?"

BB-8 blew an electronic raspberry at him.

"None of my bus-OF COURSE ITS MY BUSINESS! Don't give me that classified crap! I already saved your nonexistent ass once before! You owe me!" Faster than a blink he reached down, snatching the rotund droid up before it could think to retreat. "Ha!" he crowed, glaring down at the little offender. "Whaddya say now, eh?!"

 _Bzzt!_

 _That,_ apparently.

"Yow!"

Naruto got a nasty zap on the nose for his efforts, forcing him to drop his prize with a dull clank.

"Touche, droid." he muttered, rubbing his nose. "Touche."

If a droid could look smug, BB-8 would've been the picture of it.

"We should get him back to his owner, then." Rey piped up, gripping her staff. For the life of him, Naruto couldn't tell whether she wanted to clobber him with it or not.

"Supplies first." Naruto argued, rising from his workbench with the air of a tired soldier. "I'm tired of eating rations. Lets splurge for once. Get some real food before we trek halfway across the damn planet. 'Sides, if that wound was as bad as I thought, I doubt flyboy's going to be going anywhere anytime soon."

"You just want to terrorize Plutt again."

A toothy grin was his first answer.

"C'mon, don't make that face! What's the worst that could happen?"

Needless to say, mistakes were made.

* * *

 _(One ill-fated trip later...)_

* * *

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

Naruto restrained a strangled yelp, ducking under an explosive green bolt of plasma and hissing softly as he felt the searing air warm his hair. Rey was half-a-step behind, which wasn't at all surprising when one realized they were being shot at by a _Tie Fighter._ Two, actually! Either the pilots were piss-poor shots, too busy playing with them, or they were incredibly lucky. If one could call this luck. Rey's strangled curses told the blond all he wanted to know about _that_ particular situation and the chewing out that awaited him once they survived this.

If they survived this.

It wasn't his fault!

He'd expected some sort of reprisal for his actions, of course; he just hadn't thought it would be so soon. Part of him suspected Ren would go crawl under a rock and nurse his wounds-another even dared to hope that in spite of what had happened, perhaps the little pansy would even see the error of his ways.

Evidently not.

Instead they'd run into a full squad of armored troopers before they could even reach Plutt. And when they'd beaten _those_ down-then came the air support. The last five minutes had been spent leading them on a merry lil' chase across the junkyard, doing their damndest not to get themselves shot.

This wasn't going to work for much longer, either.

"Go!" He barked! "I'll buy you some time!"

Rey nearly skidded to a halt.

"What are you doing...?!"

Naruto grinned at her.

It was all teeth.

"Trust me."

Apparently she did; because the scavenger took off at a dead run for the quad jumper, BB-8 hot on her heels.

One Tie screamed past to follow.

The other swung around to track Naruto.

Mistake.

Snarling, the strengthened blond swept his arm back, locking the saber in the on-position with a press of the button. He lingered all of a moment more, making certain the offending fighter had locked onto him for an attack run. Whomever the pilot was, they never once paused to consider the fierce red Lightsaber in his hand. They probably didn't given Ren's lightsaber so much as a second thought. And why should they? They probably thought it was just some fancy vibroblade of sorts, nothing that could possible pierce the superior armor of their craft. No, they didn't consider it a threat at all.

Until he threw it.

VZZM!

The red blade arced through the air with a mournful howl, a blurring red discus that cut across the air to meet the hull before the pilot could think to veer away. His mistake. Durasteel met to hot plasma and yielded into it like butter; parting with a groan as the whirling blade effortlessly bifurcating the cockpit, followed by the prone pilot within. Bereft of its guidance, the TIE uttered a whining groan and hurtled past, grinding itself into a spectacular shrapnel-hurling fireball caroming wildly off a junk stand and sending the scavengers scattering like flies.

Naruto groaned, quietly mourning the loss of his prize in the wreck.

"One down."

Unfortunately he didn't have anything to tackle the second, which, upon seeing the death of its wing-mate, banked around to fire on _him_ once more. Streaks of green plasma arced past, not to where he was, or even at Rey and BB-8, but where they would be-

 _Oh, hell._

The Quad-Jumper came apart moments later, a cloud of black and orange consuming their means of escape; flinging bits and pieces of engine parts in all directions. To her credit, Rey didn't slow. She simply banked an angry right and hurtled towards the only other freighter within spitting distance. Naruto bit back another groan as he raced after her, his bad leg protesting with each step that jarred up his spine. Worse, he thought he saw fragments of his false foot tumbling away behind him.

 _Later._

"Are we seriously stealing this hunk of junk?!" he hollered, bounding up the ramp!

"Better this than nothing!"

A near miss shook them.

...garbage it is, then!"

"You think?!"

"Hey!" Mere moments before he ducked inside, Naruto thought he heard a distant shout. "That's _miiiiiiiiine!"_

The blond scoffed and slapped the hatch shut, the ramp rising behind him.

"Not anymore it ain't!"

The Millenium Falcon bucked and yawed beneath his feet a heartbeat later, hurling him forward.

"Gunner's position is down below!"

Naruto turned his head and spat a tooth onto the deck, shaking himself out of a dented bulkhead. The metal offered a brief squeal of protest when he pushed himself free, as if the very ship herself were complaining to him about his lack of finesse. He gave the wall another whack for good measure.

"You know," he shouted towards the cockpit, swallowing a mouthful of blood, "I had the impression that you were a pilot."

A barrel roll tossed the jedi-in-training right on his ass.

"Shut up and man the guns!"

"That it?"

"NARUTO!"

Funny how a single word could carry so much death.

"Right, right, I'm going! Jeez, the things I do for-

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!"

That was all he managed before a small blur of orange and white slammed into him and sent him sprawling. Repressing a growl, he thrust BB-8 off him, depositing the madly beeping droid against a crate. With a hiss to stay put he grabbed the nearest rung in the ladder and scurried down below, swearing all the while. Just another low point on what had already proved to be a spectacular morning. Quietly resolving to rain hell down on the unlucky bastard shooting them, he strapped himself in and struggled to make sense of the myriad controls before him.

The quad guns jammed not a moment later.

 _"I really hate this day, dattebayo!"_

 **A/N: SURPRISE!**

 **Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed to get this off the ground. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any Rasenshuriken around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!** **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW! Tis a shocker!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"You're sick."_

 _"No, I'm justice."_

 _Naruto's only response was to raise the hilt in his hand._

 _Vzzm!_

 _"You...stupid...little shit!"_

 _With a warbling shriek the LIGHTSABER sprang to life in his palm, a thick amber-colored blade igniting as they looked on. The ninja gave the weapon an experimental twirl, testing its weight. Seemingly satisfied with his new creation, he gave it a flick of the wrist, hanging it at his side, dragging against the brown leaves until it drew sparks._

 _Then he started forward._

 _"I'm going to kill you." he drew the words out with deliberate care, as though the young man were as much admitting it to himself as he were Ren. "Slowly. Painfully. Piece by piece. I am going to take my fucking **time** with you, and I'm going to enjoy it, even though I shouldn't. I hope you realize that." Ren realized something alright; those eyes weren't blue anymore. They were...gold, a sickly shade of yellow, like so much poisoned honey, not the eyes of a man, but a monster, a cold-blooded killer brought to the fore by the events that had transpired here._

 _"And when I'm done with you, I'm going to do the same to your master. **I AM GOING TO FUCKING DESTROY THE TWO OF YOU!"**_

 _Then he flew at him._

 **R &R! =D**


	5. Whispers of a Fall

**A/N: YES! I! AM! BACK! BACK AGAIN! BACK WITH REQUEST YEARS ONCE MORE! This week's request? Updating this fic! Among others. So off we go!**

 **Now, someone asked about Naruto going to the dark side in this? Is it a possibility? Hmm. That depends. Remember, he is very, very VERY angry at a certain Goddess for screwing up his life. Add to that the whispers he's hearing, and the new wellspring of power he's only just begun to tap into and all I can say is...he's toeing a perilous line. It remains to be seen whether he crosses it, or not, dear readers.**

 **Now, I proudly present the next chapter of...**

 **...Not So Far Away!**

 **...make of it what you will!**

 **I'm also taking pangs to make this story different, unique, and very much my own from the new canon.**

 **As you'll soon see.**

 **Hope ya like it, folks!**

 _"You will give in. You just haven't realized it yet."_

 _~?_

 **Whispers of a Fall**

 _"FUCK! MY! LIIIIIIIFE~!"_

Naruto gnashed his teeth as his world spun in a violent circle, the viewport before him little more than a mottled blur of sand sky and more sand. Rey was putting the ship through her paces, throwing in every trick she knew and then a few more in a desperate attempt to keep the enemy fighter from scoring a direct hit. Yawing from side to side did _not_ do wonders for one's aim however, much less one's stomach. More than once, that wasn't enough and streaks of super-heated green plasma howled past mere inches from the hull and the gunner's turret.

Not to mention the constant spinning was sending his gut lurching and there was only so much one could take of _that..._

"What's going on down there?!" Rey's voice called over the intercom, "Why aren't you shooting back?!"

"The damn turret's jammed!" he snarled, "I've got nothing!

"Why does this always happen to you?!"

"Not the time for this here, Rey! NOT THE TIME!"

Cursing his sand-blasted luck, the blond wrenched the controls for all he was worth, but still, they refused to respond. They were well and truly jammed, the buttons stiff and unresponsive to his touch. It would've been one thing if they'd merely been locked in the upright position, he could have at least made a go of that, but _noooooo_ apparently fate felt like fucking with him today! Another blast rocked the battered old freighter, and, this time, he wasn't so fortunate to escape it unharmed.

Pain exploded in his forehead as his head snapped forward, caught on something sharp, and tinged his vision red.

Raising his gaze, wincing at the agony throbbing in his skull,

He caught sight of the Tie Fighter then, a brief glimpse of mottled black and grey weaving past his screen.

A spark of anger worked its way through the fog of his thoughts, worming its way deep into his heart.

The ship shook, smashing his head against the controls, sending a spike of agony into his skull.

And for the first time in a long time, Naruto realized an awful truth.

He was angry.

Angrier than he'd been in a long time.

He was absolutely _bleeding furious_ and it stung more than words ever could to admit it. This in turn, only made the broken shinobi all the angrier. Not with Rei but at himself, at the tempermental state of own body, the weakness of his powers, at this wretched hunk of junk masquerading as a ship, at the dead controls in his hands. But this extended well beyond that. It had begun slowly, in fits and spurts, now a rushing tide. His wrath had been building for days-weeks!-now, seething just under the surface. Ever present but contained, even as it reached a fever boil.

Now, to be fair Naruto had never been the sort to dwell on this sort of thing in the past.

But that had been before.

Before he'd been stranded here. Before he lost his leg. Before he'd been crippled. Before his powers were reduced to a mere flicker of their former might. Before he had to watch Rei struggle to make a living for the both of them, watching her scrape by, scavenge increasingly dangerous areas just so they could make ends meet. Even now she was fighting to keep them both alive and there wasn't anything he could do...!

Now it came to a head.

For the first time since he'd found himself on this miserable dust-ball of a planet, Naurto Uzumaki gave the anger within room to _breathe._

And oh, did it breathe.

 _'Good, good!'_ An ancient, withered voice cackled in the back of his mind. _'Let the hate flow through you!'_

Naruto barely heard it and, looking back, he should have paid it more attention. But he didn't.

He wanted to find the ones responsible for his sorry state.

He wanted to hurt those who'd dared to attack Rey.

He wanted to hunt them down in droves.

He wanted to _destroy_ them.

Just reach out and-

 _ **"DIE."**_

CRUNCH.

To Naruto's measured disbelief, the Tie abruptly imploded.

As though a giant, invisible hand had reached out and took hold of is wings, the menacing black craft folded inward, crumpled into a ball of broken metal. It seemed to hang there for a moment, as if in suspension of the very disbelief he himself felt, still carried forward by its own momentum. Then it crashed headlong into a cliff face and shattered, sinking like a falling stone. Somewhere overhead in the pilot's seat, Naruto hard Rey give a loud whoop of relief, unaware of what he'd just done. If only he could claim such ignorance.

Naruto glanced at his hand, still outstretched, fingers clenched into a claw.

When had he done that? He didn't remember making such a motion.

"Well." he murmured eloquently, "That was...new."

 _Had_ he done that?

How?

He didn't have time to marvel at this unexpected feat however.

Because something took hold of his mind then, viciously dragging it down and _somewhere else._

* * *

 _(...?...)_

* * *

 _"You're sick."_

 _"No, I'm justice."_

 _Naruto's only response was to raise the hilt in his hand._

 _Vzzm!_

 _"You...stupid...little shit!"_

 _With a warbling shriek the LIGHTSABER sprang to life in his palm, a thick amber-colored blade igniting as they looked on. The ninja gave the weapon an experimental twirl, testing its weight. Seemingly satisfied with his new creation, he gave it a flick of the wrist, hanging it at his side, dragging against the brown leaves until it drew sparks._

 _Then he started forward._

 _"I'm going to kill you." he drew the words out with deliberate care, as though the young man were as much admitting it to himself as he were Ren. "Slowly. Painfully. Piece by piece. I am going to take my fucking **time** with you, and I'm going to enjoy it, even though I shouldn't. I hope you realize that." Ren realized something alright; those eyes weren't blue anymore. They were...gold, a sickly shade of yellow, like so much poisoned honey, not the eyes of a man, but a monster, a cold-blooded killer brought to the fore by the events that had transpired here._

 _"And when I'm done with you, I'm going to do the same to your master. **I AM GOING TO FUCKING DESTROY THE TWO OF YOU!"**_

 _Then he flew at him._

* * *

 _(...Presently...)_

* * *

The vision fled all at once, leaving him feeling drained.

 _'Okay...that was new, too. What the hell...?'_

Naruto saw rather than felt himself slump against the gunner's turret; because numb as he was, he could scarcely think, much less feel. It felt as if someone had been digging around in his brain with a pair of scissors, tearing every nerve apart on the way out. Sithspit, a gundark could've trampled on him and he would've felt better than _this!_ With an effort, he pushed himself off the battered controls, painfully conscious of the fierce throbbing in his skull, sensation rushing back to replace the sudden void.

Distantly, he was aware of Rey's voice over the intercom, but it all sounded so faraway, somehow.

Remarkably, he managed to pull himself up the ladder before he collapsed.

The scene from the viewport was damning.

His gaze craned back to the smoldering crater that had once been the tie fighter. A fighter he'd crushed with his mind. Just reached out and... _crunch._ The thought made him shudder. He'd never once had the power to do something like that, even before his accident and that he did now frightened him. More than he cared to admit. This anger was worrying, and that he'd just willingly lashed out, even against an enemy-

 _"Veeeeeep!"_

An angry and insistent series of beeps yanked him back to the present.

Glancing down, the battered blond found himself face-to-ball with the very droid responsible for their flight.

"Oh, hey little guy." a wan smile plucked at his whiskered features, "Enjoying the flight-ow!"

His smile vanished when BB-8 extended his tazer and gave him a sharp jolt.

"I'll take that as a no?" he laughed. "I was just joking, ya know."

A flat tone told him exactly what he thought of that.

"Hey! No need to be rude there, little guy."

In response, he flipped up a lighter.

"Droid, please!"

Chuckling at the sheer amount of vitriol conveyed in the following string of sound and his spirits successfully lifted by the droid's antics-clever fella-Naruto hauled himself up off the floor. Climbing to his feet with a wince of pain, he stood. The little droid rolled after him, shooting an inquisitive squawk at his heels, its lone eye rolling up to peer curiously at him.

"Yeah, I get ya. Let's go find Rey."

On that, they agreed.

Oddly enough, he found that he felt stronger now, the numbness falling away to be replaced by an oddly euphoric, nearly giddy sensation. He felt...good. Better. Revitalized, even. As if he'd just stepped out of a bacta tank after a good long soak, which was odd in and of itself for that matter. With each step he took he felt the weakness leaving him, still there, but diminished for the time being, pushed back into the furthest reaches of his mind. He walked with only the slightest limp, now a brisk pace, the ache little more than a faint reminder.

Rey found them as they reached the lounge, dropping down the ladder in a rush.

 _"That was amazing!"_

"Wait, what was-UGACH!"

This exclamation and her wide, disarming grin brought Naruto up short; so much so that when she flew at him, he nearly didn't catch her in time.

Old reflexes took over however and catch her Naruto did, his hands locking around Rey's waist smoothly even as her arms flung themselves around his neck. The sheer force of her tackle spun them both around for a moment, then he gripped her by way of her hips, and neatly spun her to a halt. Her cheeks were warm and flush as her forehead rested upon his, still giddy with adrenaline, chest rising and falling against his in short, rapid bursts as her body came down from that unexpected rush. Even with her hair a mess, even with her body covered in sweat and dust from their flight, she looked absolutely radiant.

For a fleeting moment, neither spoke, and Naruto felt his heart skip a beat.

"Pretty fancy flying there."

She preened under his praise.

"You weren't so bad yourself."

In that instant his arms nearly betrayed him, nearly did something untoward.

In the end, he settled for placing a the lightest of kisses upon her forehead, and felt terribly awkward about the whole thing for doing it without her permission. Rey, for her part, colored at the sudden display, but didn't resist and buried her head in his chest, holding him tightly as she colored. It was...almost adorable, watching her tan face color prettily like that. It served as a not-so-subtle reminder that for all her boyish behavior Rey was still very much a girl, and one he cared for at that. The idea of facing those feelings terrified him, and so, he scrambled for a distraction.

Anything.

"So," he managed, "If you're here...whose flying the ship?"

"The auto-pilot, of course." Rey took her head out of his chest and drew back to give him an odd look. "Though I'm amazed it works at all."

"Auto-what's it?"

"Remind me to give you flying lessons sometime."

"I'd probably just crash."

Rey snorted and a fleeting instant he thought that would be the end of that.

Not so lucky, alas.

"Still, I can't believe you pulled off that shot!" she laughed, gazing up at him with pure awe. Then her brow furrowed. "How _did_ you do that? I didn't see-

Naruto jerked backwards, reluctantly disentangling himself from her further.

"I...ah, got lucky."

The lie came to him easily.

Far too easily.

"Really?"

"Really." Naruto reaffirmed.

Before she could pester him further, BB-8 swooped in with a determined series of chirps and whistles. Exasperated, the rotund droid gave Rey's leg a hard nudge, as though eager to remind her of just where they where and what needed to be done.

"The Ileenium system?" Rey frowned. "That's where we need to take you?"

BB-8 chirped loudly.

"Why, is that a bad thing?" Naruto inquired.

"Well-

Whatever else she might've said as the ship chose that moment to protest.

Loudly.

A curtain of smoke shrieked to life as panel shot loose, caroming wildly off the ceiling to rest at their feet. The sudden spout of steam that followed was a welcome distraction, for it had Rey turning to face the noise and inspect the sudden discord. Thereby allowing Naruto the time to better concoct a story that consisted of something other than 'I crushed it with my mind' or somesuch. Unfortunately, he got more than he bargained for with his distraction as his favorite scavenger leaped into the opening to see to the damage. Not a moment later, all hell broke loose.

Rather, it came in the form of an unexpected stowaway.

 _"Gah!"_ A sharp, female voice cried from the floorboards in Huttese. _"Poodoo!"_

Starting at the sudden intrusion, Naruto turned and found himself face to face with a familiar visage, if only because he vividly recalled her feverish attempts to foist a certain crystal onto him. She'd since discarded her black and white leathers in favor of a dark flight suit featuring a series of mismatched pieces of mottled grey and red armor. Upon seeing them, her eyes lit up and she actually had the audacity to wave at them, in spite of the rapidly rising vapors around them. Her light blue skin seemed to shimmer in grease and grime, and with wrench it hand, it didn't take much to guess what she'd been up to. Though coated in muck, she was still a beauty to behold, as was the playful gleam in her eye, but that wasn't what drew _Naruto's_ attention.

"You?!"

 _"H'chu apenkee!"_ she called happily. _"Jeedai!"_

"Waitaminute, the only one who called me that was-

The jiinchuuriki took a closer look at her face and recognized her immediately.

So did Rey; because the scavenger balked.

 _"Syn?"_ she exclaimed, aghast. "What are you doing here?!"

The Twi'lek managed to look mildly abashed, lekku curling in embarrassment.

 _"Rey! Die wanna wanga!_ _Coona tee-tocky malia."_

"Don't you give me that! What were you doing down there?!"

Syn chattered a string of foreign syllables that made utterly no sense to Naruto. He could, however, read the sheepish tone in her voice, see the way she tented her hands nervously. It didn't take a linguistic expert for one to see these were clear signs of contriteness. But for what? This universe had so many languages, too many for him to understand. He was just grateful enough that most people spoke simple english!

"Erm...translation?"

"She was trying to cannibalize parts for her ship under Plutt's nose." the scavenger groaned, palming her face. "Clearly, that's no longer an option."

Syn offered a sheepish shrug as it to say sorry.

"So? What do we do with her?"

Syn leaped out of the compartment before Rey could make her final judgement, eyes bright.

To Naruto's surprise, she actually took his hand and squeezed it firmly in her own.

And spoke.

In a heavily accented voice thick with that of her people, she implored him.

"Oh, please let me stay, master Jedi! I won't be in the way!"

"Look, I told you I'm not a Jedi-

She didn't seem to hear.

"Please!"

Rey offered a shrug.

"I don't see why not." Relenting at length, she pulled herself out of the fog-filled compartment and quickly clasped Syn's hand, pulling her away from Naruto. A bit forcibly, the blond noted with a wry look. "Syn, come here and help me with this power converter...

Naruto smiled, paused, stole a look at Rey and Syn, still wrapped in their conversation, then glanced back at his hand.

It was still trembling.

Hurriedly, he forced it into a fist.

He mustn't let her see it, mustn't let her suspect anything was amiss.

He wanted to believe that it wasn't, that nothing had changed, but still...

For a fleeting instant there, when he'd crushed that Tie Fighter with his mind, he had felt something. Fear. Not his own, but that of the pilot's. His raw dread as he struggled against the closing confined of his own craft, fighting and failing to free himself mere moments before being rendered a bloody red paste. He'd fed on it. Savored it. He had held the man's life in his hand and willingly taken it without so much as a second thought, with wrath and anger in his heart. Perhaps worst still...

...part of him wanted to do it again.

Somehow, that frightened him even more.

As if sensing that very dread, the ship went dark, plunging them into blackness.

"Are you kidding?!"

 _He had no way of knowing what was to come._

 **A/N: SURPRISE! Added a bit of my own spin on things, here. Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed to get this off the ground. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any Rasenshuriken around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!** **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW! Tis an amusing little thing!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"Stop talking."_

 _"What are you-URK?!"_

 _"I find your lack of sense disturbing."_

 _"Naruto!"_

 _Naruto exhaled sharply through his nose._

 _"What?" he frowned. "What did I do?"_

 _"You just choked out those men!"_

 _"So? They were gonna kill us-_

 _"Listen to yourself!"_

 _Chewbacca groaned._

 _Han sighed softly in agreement._

 _"Chewie, we're getting too old for this shit..._

 **R &R! =D**


	6. Rebirth or Descent

**A/N: I'M NOT DEAD!**

 **So.**

 **The Last Jedi.**

 **Its officially out now.**

 **And I've rendered a verdict.**

 **I am both happy and SHATTERED at the same damn time. How is that even a thing, I ask you?! I literally saw it on opening night and it gave me a lot to think about, not to mention reason to start this story again. After all, it was always my intent to wait until the second movie before I kicked into high gear and went on an updating spree. Suffice to say I'm going to be going on a bit of a Star Wars craze for awhile, if only because of this.**

 **Thoughts?**

 **Opinions?**

 **Now, at the risk of spoilers, I'd like to point out two things that irked me.**

 **Snoke.**

 **As well as the issue of Rey's parents.**

 **I can accept the former, but I feel they kinda dropped the ball on the latter.**

 **I feel Disney could have done more with _both_ and instead chose not to. Or maybe they did. Perhaps they plan to surprise us, and they're saving it for the as-of-yet unnamed third movie in the trilogy. I won't say anymore, for the sake of those who have yet to see it, but it kept me entertained. Plot though...the plot could have been better. But that's all I'm saying.**

 **Now, onto the rest of the note!**

 **I'm also taking pangs to make this story different, unique, and very much my own from the new canon. ESPECIALLY given the events of the most recent movie. Seems I was right to hold back and wait to see where Last Jedi went. So, this chapter may be a touch shorter than the others, but there's a reason for that. You see, this particular chapter represents a bit of a rebirth of things. Now that I've got a concrete plan, I'm freed to unleash the full potential of this story and take it where the fans truly desire it.**

 **I'd like to state this first: the next few updates are going to focus SOLELY on this fic.**

 **Yes, there will be updates for other stories of course, but this is going to be the main focus. This chapter's meant to be a transition of sorts, a manner in which to get others back up to speed without spoiling anything to come. So I do apologize for that.**

 **Now I can proceed with MY plans and bring this fic roaring back.**

 **With a vengeance.**

 **So lets answer some questions! I think six will do this time-no, _seven_ , because I just received one while writing this.**

 **So!**

 **Q: Did...did you just write Finn and Poe out of the story?! And who's Syn? Is she an OC or something?**

 **A: No, they have their own part to play. As does Syn. She's with Naruto and Rey for a reason. Not just a plot device. She actually has a purpose, one no one has guessed at yet.**

 **Q: Am I correct in assuming you're going to take your own route with this story?**

 **A: In a sense, yes.**

 **Q: Any chance we could see a harem here?**

 **A: No. This is firmly a SINGLE. Pairing. Story. A harem serves no point here. I've worked hard to cultivate Naruto and Rey's relationship; introducing another character at this stage would be both rude and meaningless. Besides, I've pulled that already with "The Shinobi Menace" as well as "The Dark Side of the Moon". So no, NarutoxRey is the main pairing. Finn may get one of his own. As well as others. But Naruto and Rey are too invested in one another at this point to seek romantic attachment elsewhere. They are, after all, the stars of this story.**

 **Q: Naruto isn't going to do Dark, is he? Say it ain't so!**

 **A: Read the story, my friend and you'll see.**

 **Q: When will Naruto finish building his lightsaber? How is he doing it for that matter?**

 **A: Soon, and the Force is a mysterious thing my friend. He doesn't truly understand it himself. Seeing Kylo's saber up close has given him ideas to be sure, coupled with the rare crystal he was given...**

 **Q: Sooooo...did you hear about Rey's parent's and the issue with Snoke?**

 **A: Don't worry I have heard and plan to address it. I'm afraid I must remain mum on that issue for now. Spoilers and all.**

 **And there we have it.**

 **Oh and on another note, I believe I may be slowly losing my mind. As in going insane. And not in a good way. My writing skills haven't degraded in the least, but I seem to be dealing with occasional bouts of anger and depression which, for me, is rather unusual seeing as I'm normally a pretty cheerful guy. So where is this sudden stress and anxiety coming from? Holiday stress perhaps? Or maybe it has something to do with work? I honestly can't put my finger on it and in all honesty, it worries me a little bit.**

 **I'll probably have to keep an eye on this.**

 **Nothing too serious.**

 **...right?**

 **Anywho, I proudly present the next chapter of** **Not So Far Away!**

 **As well as a scene I've held back on for quite some time.**

 **Also, chapter's slightly cheesy.**

 **For good bloody reason.**

 **As you'll soon see.**

 ** _Ciao~!_**

 _"Put that thing down before you get hurt."_

 _"I...you...that's not even..._

 _~?_

 **Rebirth or Descent**

 _"I've got a bad feeling about this."_

As if the echo that very statement, the _Millennium Falcon_ gave a harsh shudder and their world plunged into darkness as someone-or something-cut the power. Illuminated by the faintest red from the emergency lights, Naruto quietly palmed his face and grit his teeth. Great. What else could possibly go wrong? Apparently the universe took issue with his pessimistic attitude, for in answer to that very question, everything lurched _again_ , the floor upheaving beneath his feet to hurl him and his companions to the floor with a squalling BB-8 not far behind.

"What the hell?!"

To their credit, none of them froze.

Rey reacted first.

Racing to the cockpit she gripped the throttle and slammed it as far forward as it would go, to no avail. By then Syn had already raced past, thrusting her head up to see who-or-what had stalled their escape. Judging by the small whimper she gave, it wasn't anyone friendly. BB-8 trundled after her, trailing a long mournful note. The Twi'lek rattled off a fearful reply of her own her normally bright face now wan with worry. Naruto scarcely heard any of it, consumed as he was with the ringing of his ears.

 _'Not to self. Stop hitting your head..._

Ears a'ringing, vision swimming, he stubbornly shook his head and willed sense to return to his skull. By the time they finally did, it was almost over. Somehow the shadows deepened even further suggesting they were all but in the grasp of their enemy. Whomever they were. Judging by their steady rate of ascent, they'd been locked in a tractor beam of some sort, the controls frozen until they reached their final destination. Of course they were. It seemed the galaxy itself was hellbent on proving them wrong.

Unbidden, his temper sparked back to life and he stubbornly tamped it down.

Was it too much to ask for a break?

"Controls are dead." Rey's voice reached him a moment later as he climbed to his feet. "We're locked out. Naruto Did you hear me?"

"Yeah," he muttered, following Syn's stare. "I think we've got bigger problems...

The sight outside stilled his heart.

To say that the freighter was massive would've been an understatement; it was colossal. Its cargo bay doors loomed open before them, like the maw of a great beast ready to swallow them whole. Another shudder ripped through the ship as they were drawn inexorably upward its cavernous edifice. There could be no escape from such a towering vessel; even if the controls were somehow rendered functional, they'd be hard-pressed to tear themselves free from the Gazing up at it, the _Falcon's_ occupants couldn't help but feel a twinge of fear. Some more than most.

Syn whimpered a soft oath.

Tearing himself away from the sight, Naruto rallied himself and turned his gaze on Rey.

"They're going to board us, aren't they? Tell me you have a blaster or something on you. Any kind of weapon, or...?"

The scavenger shook her head in quiet dismay.

"All I have is my staff-

At that, the Twi'lek jolted back to life.

 _"Chuba!"_

Naruto crashed backward as the petite alien rounded on him.

"Hey!"

Any other words on her part were lost in a string of angry invectives and syllables he couldn't understand. While he might have acquired a primitive understanding of technology in this world, many of its languages were still far beyond him. It was already something of a miracle-or happy coincidence-that he and Rey spoke the same language at all. But Huttese? The notion of it completely and utterly escaped him. Her fuming expression only made matters all the worse in his eyes; for though she expected him to understand him, he caught not a wit of it. In the end, he turned once ore to Rey for answers.

"Wanna translate that?"

Instead, Syn thrust a finger at his bag.

 _"Jeedai! Weapon!_ " she spat in heavily accented basic.

 _Oh._

The blond bolted upright.

Realization flooded him all at once.

"Alright, alright!" he snapped. "I get it! I'm going!"

Frantically he stabbed a hand into his pouch and emptied it upon a nearby table.

"Oi, droid. Gimme some light." he commanded, and this time, BB-8 didn't question him.

A strange, eerie calm settled over him as he spread the assorted parts out against the flat surface.

How did he know this was a weapon? In truth, it was just a guess. A spark. Hope. He'd nearly completed the final design before they'd been forced to flee Jaaku. His pet project, an act of construction he didn't understand yet felt compelled toward all the same. An unknown presence, guiding his hands. Aided by the faint light afforded by the rotund little droid, he cracked his fingers and went to work.

"Here goes nothing...!"

Now he found his palms guided once again by that mysterious force, all the while keenly aware of just how little time he had. Yet his fingers moved just as quickly, seemingly of their own accord to slot the remaining components into place. Inserting the crystal. Adjusting the circuits. Sliding the bronze-colored metal that was the outer shell over it all and into place. Tightening the casing. A dozen tiny configurations he didn't understand, yet knew were vital all the same. A thousand lines all leading to one point of origin, a single destination forged by countless tiny interlocking mechanisms.

 _Ba-krang!_

A harsh thud on the hull jolted him out his trance, and for a moment, just a moment, Naruto actually despaired. Lost himself. He stared down at the tangled mess beneath his hands, utterly unable to think of the next step. He paused. Faltered. Hesitated. But whatever had him would not be so easily denied. A blink and he saw the next step,

"Hurry!" Rey hissed.

"I'm trying!"

Within moments, he'd finished.

It was a crude creation cobbled together from spare parts and junk, utterly lacking in beauty or prestige. But it would hold. There would be time enough for finery or refinement later. If there was time. _If_ they survived this whomever had taken them. For the time being, it would serve the purpose for which it had been created. A purpose he still didn't truly understand, yet felt compelled nonetheless. He didn't know how he knew-only that he did. Like a shard of a dream half-forgotten upon waking, yet remembered all the same. Something -or someone?- had called him to this task and he was powerless to resist until the deed was done. Even now he heard the whispers spurring him forward, urging him onward. To what, he knew not.

Only that it was his.

Rising slowly, Naruto braced himself on his good leg and pushed himself upright, cradling the cylinder carefully in his right hand. Spirits, it almost felt alive. As thought he metal-and the crystal housed within-were singing to him and him alone. A song of such rich emotion that nearly brought tears to his eyes.

Could a crystal be alive?

"Is that...?"

Rey must've shared the same thought, for when he met her gaze she looked almost...conflicted. Strangely enough, part of him almost wanted to give it to her. He couldn't quantify the reason why, only that it existed. Ah, but a thorn of selfishness pricked at him and held him back and he pulled away from her. Perhaps she sensed it. Whatever the case, her face closed down, her expression turning almost guarded as he tilted the weapon in his hand, quietly admiring his crude creation.

"I don't know what it is." he admitted as much to her as to himself. "But I think...I think I was meant to have it."

Syn all but bounced on the balls of her feet, such was her glee.

 _"Jeedai!"_

"I keep _telling_ you, I'm not, oh, _fuck it_...they're coming. _Hide!"_

"What? No! What're you doing?!"

"If this does what I think, I'll be fine. Now, get!"

Reluctantly both girls did as they'd been bade. The latter seized BB-8 and dove under a nearby floor-grate. Naruto eased the covering over them just as the lights blazed back at full strength. Even from here he could just hear the Falcon's ramp lowering.

Steeling himself, he thumbed the switch he'd just installed.

 _Vzzm!_

"Well, now?!"

Started as he was, Naruto nearly dropped it on the spot, which would have been most foolish indeed.

Somehow he managed to hold on.

To gaze at it.

To know.

To see.

With an explosive snap hiss the blade-for it was indeed a blade-burst to life in his hands, drawing a startled yelp from its wielder as he gazed upon his unwitting creation. An amber line casting the colors of sunset across his visage. A bar of brilliant orange plasma curling inward upon itself, banked in flames. Fire given form. Fierce, yet gentle. Wrath. Justice. Hate. Kindness. So many emotions, all wrapped up in this creation. His love, his anger, and all of his sorrow, fused into a searing sword of pure energy.

A lightsaber.

The name came to him suddenly, as if he'd known it all his life.

When his arm moved so too did the hilt and the blade with it, a low growl tracing through the air. Wary of the searing blade and the harm it might cause, Naruto traced another motion and the near-weightless lightsaber mirrored it, albeit with the stiff awkwardness of a beginner. He sketched a third motion from side to side, familiarizing himself with the weapon's length, then took its long hilt in both hands holding tight. A beat of awful silence passed as he waited for the enemy to break, an eerie pall hanging heavily across his shoulders.

"Okay," he growled, bracing himself against the wall. "Any day now...

And the door opened.

He'd expected stormtroopers.

Soldiers, at the least.

Instead he found himself face to face with a scruffy old man wielding a blaster.

And a very large, very _furry_ Wookie.

"Chewie, we're home-

The latter howled a warning.

It was the former who had spoken, but at his companion's cry his keen gaze snapped toward Naruto.

If he was at all alarmed by the sight of a long-forgotten weapon, he did little to show it. There was no shock hidden there in that narrow gaze. No fear. No hesitation. Only annoyance. And perhaps a bit of anger. As if the very sight of the saber irked him; the mere _existence_ of such a thing such an affront to his pride that he couldn't stand the sight of it. And beyond that anger...pain. A wound so deep that it seemed to scorch his very soul, to sap what little life he had yet remaining. Masked perhaps, hidden, but still very much there.

The pain of losing everything he'd ever held dear.

A pain he knew all too well.

Something in the old smuggler's gaze made Naruto lower his blade.

Mistake.

No sooner had he lowered the blade than the old-timer rounded on him, shoving the blaster against his chest. In that moment Naruto could've easily taken the blaster and the hand holding it besides, but something stayed his hand. Pity? Empathy? He didn't know. Only in that moment, he saw his future self. Old. Broken by guilt and grief.

Something deep inside of him recoiled, and older man mistook it for shame.

"Who are you supposed to be?" the man growled at him, his voice rough from lack of use. "A jedi? Don't make me laugh. Do yourself a favor and put that light sword away before you get yourself hurt."

Despite himself, Naruto felt a muscle jump in his jaw.

"How many times do I have to say I'm not _-ack?!"_

A stun-bolt slammed into his chest and the lightsaber tumbled from his nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor where it guttered out.

Even then Naruto nearly didn't go down without a fight...

 _"Chewie?"_

...until a great and furry paw slammed into the blond's back back before he could recover from the debilitating shot, slamming him own into the very grate he'd been protecting this entire time. That of course caused Rey to yelp, which in turn drew the smuggler's attention and suddenly that very same blaster found itself jutting up against the blond's temple. The softest of clicks informed him its owner had taken the liberty of setting it to kill rather than the simple stun setting of mere minutes ago.

"Don't move."

Chewbacca groaned.

Han sighed softly in agreement.

"Yeah, we're getting too old for this shit. So, kid...

A deep scowl turned itself upon him.

 _...who the hell are you?"_

 **A/N: Weren't expecting that, were you?**

 **Just goes to show what mercy can get you; especially if you're caught off guard.**

 **I can EASILY see Han telling someone that. At his age he's too old to put up with bullshit. And Naruto being too shocked to put up a fight against it. Hope you liked the little turn of scene there rather than sticking the one from the movie. It just seemed more entertaining.**

 **And yeah, Gundam quotes are gundamn quotes.**

 **I thought the line was appropriate, given the situation.**

 **So, now Naruto's got a lightsaber, but he's got a ways to go before he figures out how to use it properly.**

 **SURPRISE! Added a bit of my own spin on things, here. Hope you enjoyed it~!**

 **Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed to get this off the ground. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any Rasenshuriken around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!** **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW! Tis an amusing little thing!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"I know that look."_

 _"What?" Naruto stiffened. "No. No, you don't."_

 _The weathered smuggler merely smirked in the face of his defiance._

 _"A' course I do. Seen it plenty of times, kid. Even a blind man can see you've been making eyes at her."_

 _"No, no, **no."**_

 _"Lemme guess, you even-_

 _"Shut the hell up you scruffy nerf-herder!"_

* * *

 _Fear leads to anger._

 _Anger leads to hate._

 _Hate leads to suffering._

* * *

 _"She's nothing. No one."_

 _"Aw, that's cute. Trying ta' lie to her."_

 _"What? No, wait, what are you dooooooinggrgh?!"_

 _Ren's facade shattered into a startled grunt as he and Naruto unexpectedly traded wounds, the blond suffering a deep swipe into his side even as he dropped his saber and spun, driving a booted foot between his ribs. In the next instant he caught the tumbling blade and brought it up in a rising slash that the so-called Sith only narrowly blocked by leveling his weapon vertical against his torso. The sheer force behind the blow drove one of the prongs back against the young man's shoulder, drawing a furious snarl from him. In the most stark of contrasts, the wounded warrior gritted his teeth through the pain and laughed_ _, slamming the amber-colored saber against his own._

 _"Kicking your ass! Time for round two ya broody bastard!"_

* * *

 _"And so we meet at last."_

 _Naruto raised the blade warily._

 _"Sorry. I'm not one for long conversations."_

 _"You think to kill me, do you? By all means. Try."_

 **R &R! =D**


	7. Nostalgic Chaos

**A/N: (EDIT: Hit the review section and see the reviews before you read this chapter. I've left a note at the top.**

 **I'm sick and tired of debating this issue.)**

 **HELLO! Hope you're all having a good early holiday!**

 **Happy Easter! Or is it April Fools? Easter Fools? Told you I'd update again, didn't I? Eh, that's a holiday in my book regardless, so its an excuse for an update!The Last Jedi may have dampened my enthusiasm somewhat, but now I'm all the more determined to press on. ESPECIALLY after getting a look at those deleted scenes! Cry havoc and loose the dogs of war because I am back BABY!**

 **First off, I want to address something.**

 **An anonymous review, actually:**

 _"Look you're a great writer, but there is seriously a problem when a quarter of the chapter's word count is an author's note."_

 **Seriously? Of all the things you could say, you choose THAT?! Its hardly ever a problem and you're seriously going to poke that dragon there bud?!** **It irks me to no end when people tell me this.** **EXCUSE ME for talking to you guys and gals.**

 **I don't mean to come as rude, but I dislike nitpicking. I can take criticism when it makes a valid point, but the remark above makes none. Whereas those below actually DO!**

 **Also, I caught a bit of flak from one or two reviewers for Naruto getting stunned by Han then subsequently sucker punched by Chewbacca. I'll say to you now what I said then to them; he was caught off guard through his own doing, not theirs. Furthermore, I don't care who you are or claim to be, a Wookie punch is going to hurt. Remember, Naruto is by no means god tier in this story. He's got a fair bit of strength to him even after his injury, but by no means is his all-powerful.**

 **Of course, that's not to say that he'll be batted around by the rest of the cast like a ball of yarn; because he won't.**

 **This is one of the few-and perhaps only-times his sympathy and good heart works against him.** **Seriously, if someone wants to nitpick at something so miniscule as this then that means they weren't enjoying the story. Remember, write this for you guys on MY time. I get paid absolutely nothing and receive nothing in return save word of mouth and reviews. This is not my livelihood by any means though by the Force, I wish it was.**

 **Now lets answer some questions! I think Five will do this time.**

 **Q: To paraphrase a certain smuggler: I have a bad feeling about this...**

 **A: If you mean Naruto then you're right to be worried. As things stand, he's a little unhinged at the moment. Thankfully Rey's around to keep him in check...for the most part.**

 **Q: Say, do you have plans for Starkiller base? Because I hate, hate, HATE seeing the Empire-wannabe's otherwise known as the First Order having their way and all those innocents dying in the blink of an eye. I don't suppose you could find a way for them to survive? Or are you not telling us something? You don't seem the type to let MILLIONS of innocents go out like that, Neon. And yes, this is a blatant appeal to your morality from someone who wants to see the First Order get their teeth kicked in. I regret nothing!**

 **A: Ha.**

 **Haha.**

 **Hahaha!**

 **Keep reading and you'll see...**

 **Q: At last we see Naruto's lightsaber! I take it you have plans for it?**

 **A: I do indeed.**

 **Q: When do we get another chapter from Rey's perspective? Or Han?**

 **A: That would be this one, actually. Of a sort.**

 **Q: Are you going to save Han?**

 **A: That is the key question isn't it? We'll see.**

 **And there we have it.**

 ** _Ciao~!_**

 _"You can't run away from this, ya know. Believe me. I tried."_

 _"Then what do you want me to do?!"_

 _"I want you to trust me."_

 _"I can't just-_

 _"You can."_

 _~?_

 **Nostalgic Chaos**

Well.

 _That_ happened.

In the ensuing chaos that followed Rey found herself struggling to keep pace with everything; much less follow the flow of conversation. Putting the brief thrill of escape aside, she didn't know where to begin. In the space of a few short minutes they'd gone from helming a ship to stowaways on said ship, from uneasy guests, to _something else entirely._ Despite all this, or perhaps in spite of it, Naruto had somehow managed to convince their captor _-who was apparently bloody Han Solo!-_ of their intentions and that they weren't ship thieves, worthy of little more than a shot in the back. That was all well and good.

He had not, however, convinced Solo as to the matter of his weaponry.

Presently they were debating that very fact.

Ah, they most certainly were!

 _Vigorously._

"Come on now." Han drawled, directing a pointed look toward the metal cylinder clutched in the blond's hand, "Be honest. Where'd you get that thing? Diddya lift it from a museum or something?"

Naruto regarded the weathered smuggler with hooded eyes.

"I made it." he insisted, more than a little put out.

"Stole it, more like."

Naruto scowled.

"I. Made. It."

 _"Riiiiight."_

Rey knew that look well; she'd known Naruto long enough to realize when he was being surly. To recognize the anger lurking just beneath the surface. He was all of a minute from saying "to hell with this", clobbering Han-wookie notwithstanding-and tossing both of them out the nearest airlock. As it stood he'd recovered from that stun-bolt remarkably fast. She imagined that such a tactic had only succeeded because he'd lowered his guard in the first place; were one to attempt such a tactic again, they'd pay sorely for their temerity. It certainly didn't help that Syn looked as if she were about to fly into a fit of giggles because of this. Indeed, the little Twi'lek looked all of a moment from bursting out into demented laughter!

"Does it really matter where I got it?"

"It does if I say so! You probably lifted it!"

"Hey! If you try and stun me again _so help me-_

Right, enough of _that._ Better stop them before someone started shooting.

"Alright, enough!" she snapped, her voice cracking like a whip. "Both of you! Cool your heads!"

Interposing herself between the two squabblers, the scavenger thrust both arms out and attempted to push them apart. Naruto yielded to her efforts with an annoyed grunt, but the old smuggler proved more recalcitrant on his part and unwilling to let. In the end it took her and Chewie's combined efforts to part them. More than a few invectives were uttered in the process and things finally came to a head when the latter spat something particularly vicious at the other.

"Go ahead, try and stun me again! See what happens!"

"I oughta shoot you instead!"

 _ **"GWOARGH!"**_

Chewbacca's snarl caused shinobi and smuggler alike to flinch. BB-8 took the opportunity to give the blond a hart jolt in the leg. Result achieved. Naruto sprang back like a scalded cat and shot the rotund little synthetic a murderous glower. Rey took the opportunity to come closer and lay a hand on his shoulder. The anger drained out of him like a broken sieve.

 _"Naruto."_

...fine, fine." he groused handing his head. "I'm calm. See? This is me. Being calm."

With a supreme effort the blond mastered himself and shook his head. Confident he wouldn't fly on the handle the moment she turned her back on him, Rey turned her attention to Solo. The smuggler held her gaze for an instant. Then he stormed off in a huff. Once again, it struck her that she'd been looking at a legend. Old or not, she'd heard stories about this man. Legends. And sometimes she'd even wondered if...no, she was no longer a little girl and didn't have time for those flights of fancy. More important matters were at hand. Still, she couldn't help being a _little_ foolish.

"Is this really the ship that made the Kessel Run in Fourteen parsecs?"

 _"Twelve!"_ Han admonished from the cockpit.

Naruto arched an eyebrow.

"Is that fast?"

 _"Aaargh!"_

For the first time in years, Han Solo truly felt his age. Like mighty shackles weighing him down, dragging him into the muck. Kids these days. Yet he couldn't help but feel bad for them. Blondie clearly carried a load of old mental baggage with him. His girl-girlfriend?-was another matter entirely. She radiated optimism and a strange, infectious energy he didn't understand. If the boy was an unstoppable force-and he feared he'd pegged his guess right on that account-then she was an immovable object. A calm port in a storm, utterly unflinching in the face of adversity. Then there was that little Twi'lek who kept shying away from him every time he looked at her. What was _her_ story?

More importantly!

How did he get roped into this shit?

No, whatever it was, he wanted no part of it.

 _Especially_ when one of those kids wielded a lightsaber.

Those days were long gone and he had no desire to revisit them.

"Damn kids." he groused. "Chewie, toss them in a pod and send 'em back to Jaaku-

 _"Like hell!"_

The ferocity of the young man's statement nearly took him back, as did his sudden proximity. Apparently he'd gotten into the cockpit behind him at some point during his musings. Now, Naruto seized him by the arm and all but spun him around to face him. Blazing blue eyes held his and rooted him, refusing to flinch in spite of the shadow of fury lurking on his visage or nearness of Chewie's presence. _Stubborn._ He'd give the kid credit for that, if nothing else. It almost reminded him of a certain farm boy. Unfortunately, it _also_ made him all the more eager to part with him. The memory of Luke was an old wound, and all this jedi mumbo-jumbo only served to further aggravate it. And yet...

"This damn droid," the youth thumbed over his shoulder at the "droid" in question, "Has to get to the Resistance. I made a promise, and I _keep_ my promises."

"Well, isn't that touching." Han grunted. "And why should I care about any of that?"

Rey interjected before either of them could come up with an argument.

"Because he's carrying a map to Luke Skywalker!"

Both Hand and Naruto rounded on her for entirely different reasons.

"Who in blazes is that?"

Well.

 _That_ was a reason.

Han almost-almost!-found himself smirking as with painstaking patience, the clever little scavenger explained just who in blazes Luke was; while somehow securing _his_ own assistance towards said endeavor. Her friend didn't seem to buy it at first glance, but he went along willingly if only for her sake. _Ah._ He knew that look. Smitten, that one. He suspected blondie there would follow her into hell and back if she asked him. Judging by the lingering looks she gave him, it seemed said feelings were reciprocated...though neither realized it.

They were comfortable with one another.

Trusted each other.

One could guess what kind of environment must've fostered such trust, or forged such a bond. He might not be able to read that damn droid or the Twi'lek-the latter having taken up an animated conversation with Chewie of all people-but he could read these two at least. Their gentle bickering reminded him of the times he had butted heads with Leia back in his youth.

Another painful reminder.

It would've been downright touching if he wasn't in such a foul mood. As things stood, he-

A harsh from the corridor commanded his attention.

"Shit. Don't tell me a rathtar got loose."

He had time enough to see a startled expression flicker across Naruto's face; then he was gone, bounding down the Falcon's ramp to seek the nearest console. Part of him hoped he might somehow lose the kids in warren of corridors that served as the belly of the larger freighter, but it wasn't to be. Everyone trailed after him in quick procession, with a reluctant BB-8 bringing up the rear. Much to his infinite chagrin, the lightsaber-wielding blond kept pace with him despite his artificial leg. Hell, he almost ran him down!

"You're not hauling rathtars."

Han never broke a stride.

"I'm hauling rathtars."

"Of course ya are."

Rey frowned.

"What are-

 _"Don't."_

By the time Han finally found what he was looking for, his worst fears had been confirmed. A series of flickering images above and within the console informed him that none of the beasts had escaped their cells as of yet; but that would soon prove to be the least of their worries. _They were being boarded._ He caught the approach of the transport just before it docked, its curved hull jutting angrily against the airlock. Damn. Too late for him to lock them out now. Much too late. Even if he could, they'd just blast their way through. This old tub didn't have weapons, nor was it built to sustain the kind of firepower this lot was packing. They were going to be here any minute now if he did nothing, but that was half the problem-from this console he had no physical way of impeding their progress.

"Tch." he growled. "Guavian Death Gang. Persistent bastards."

Chewbacca groaned a series of strong syllables.

"Hey, its not my fault this time!"

"Who?" A curious Rey tried to peer over his shoulder, only to jerk back as he turned and stormed in the opposite direction.

Han grimaced.

"Long story short, I owe them fifty thousand credits...and then some. They must've tracked me and Chewie from Nantoon."

Naruto crossed both arms before his chest.

"I get the sense that there's more to that story."

...there is. I'd rather not tell, if its all the same to you."

"Fair enough."

He wisely chose not to call the blond's bluff or elaborate upon the rest of that particular tale. The less they knew the better. Bad enough that he was transporting Rathtars for that twit King Prana and been caught in mid-transport, but this was just absurd. He really did have awful luck these days. Last thing he needed was to turn _these kids_ against him with tale of his smuggling days and swindling. He had enough enemies already. If he could find an accessway of some sort or cause a lockdown, he might-a big might!-be able to slow them down and buy himself a few precious minutes...no. Wait. There was an alternative to all this. An angle his foe might not see coming if played properly.

The answer was staring him in the face, fiddling a tattered brown robe he'd filched from a nearby crate.

Yes, yes, yes! This could work! He just had to play his cards right.

"You any good with that sword of yours, kid?"

"Oh, now you want to believe me, eh?!"

"Sithspawn, are you or not?!"

"Somewhat."

"Tell you what." Han sigh at the suspicious glint in his eyes, "You help me with this, and I'll get that droid of yours to the Resistance. No questions asked. Sound like an even trade-

"I still think you should help us regardless...

 _-kid!-_

...but fine, I'll help." the whiskered warrior relented with a shrug. "What do you need me to do?"

"Put that robe on." When the blond blinked the old smuggler-without breaking his stride-reached over and yanked the hood over the young man's head. A startled squawk greeted his efforts, but he paid them no mind in any event. This plan was mad. Absolutely, stark raving mad. And it might just work. If there was one thing people feared these days it was the unknown; and he had a very unknown quantity right here. If this played out as he planned, they'd all walk away with their skins intact and he'd be paid handsomely for delivering those damn rathtars.

If it worked. If something didn't go wrong.

Why did he have a bad feeling about all this, suddenly?

Chewbacca palmed his face and groaned forlornly.

"Hush, you. You any good at acting, kid?"

"Ha?"

 _"Good."_

He came to a dead stop at another unremarkable junction and palmed a hidden switch. At his touch a portion of the grated floor folded back and came away, revealing a hidden compartment beneath. Without so much as an explanation, Han attempted to usher Rey and Syn inside for their own safety. While the Twi'lek might be armed and somewhat armored, the young scavenger certainly wasn't. That staff of hers would do her little good against a blaster. Thus, gentleman that he was-ha!- he attempted to get them to safety for their own good.

Attempted was the key word.

The former immediately protested and the latter eeled out of his grasp, seeking shelter behind Chewie, while the latter dug her heels in until he no longer had any hope of moving her. Stubborn kids. He could let the alien slid, seeing as she'd likely be useful in a fight, but he wasn't willing to budge where Rey was concerned. Certainly not when her injury might set the kid off.

"What in blazes are you doing?! Get down there-

He never finished that sentence.

Because it was at that precise moment that the gang found _them._

An access hatch irised opened at the end of the hall to admit six figures. Each humanoid, five of them stood clad in distinctive red armor, their faces sheltered behind scarlet helmets. Han dismissed them without a thought in spite of their pulse rifles. It was their leader that concerned him; the barely contained anger etched into his pale visage that threatened to explode at any given moment. He gave the now-robed Naruto little more than a passing glance before his dark eyes locked back on Han with the intensity of a black hole.

"Han Solo. You're a dead man."

He knew the latter on sight.

And then things went from bad to worse.

An adjacent corridor suddenly and abruptly opened to reveal an additional clutch of armored invaders, though this lot couldn't have been more assimilair. No two men looked alike, and he was somewhat chastened to see the man standing at their head. He knew him. _Of course he knew him._ Was there no end of bad luck for him today?! Of all the times, all the places...!

 _Kanjiklub._

No, no, no! This wasn't how it was supposed to go!

"Now, Bala, I can explain. You too, Leech-

"No. You can't. Shoot him."

 _"Move!"_

 _Someone jerked Han's body aside._

A finger twitched.

Someone fired.

Rey yelped.

Red.

In disbelief he realized the scavenger girl had yanked him aside and gotten shot for her trouble. An ugly red wound marred her right shoulder, leaving her curling in on herself on the deck, hissing softly. A low snarl behind him confirmed his worst suspicions too late. Discarding the ratty brown robe, Naruto stormed past him, flinging the cloak to the floor. An angry thrumming filled the room and he realized too late what was about to happen here, what was transpiring. What he was _seeing-_

"Hey! Look kid, just calm down...

Naruto heard none of it.

 _Fear leads to anger._

 _Anger leads to hate._

 _Hate leads to suffering._

Naruto's eye twitched.

Something was howling in him, begging to be let out. Anger. Rage. Wrath. Emotions he'd worked so hard to tamp down, to control, to mask, all of it came roaring out at the sight of Rey's wound. Try as he might, he could no longer contain it. They'd hurt her. His life. His light. His love. His everything. The sight of it irked him. No, more than irked. It was the trigger. The excuse. A reason. If they were going to try and kill them regardless of their answer, why should he spare them? Why show any mercy? No, they didn't deserve mercy. They deserved only one thing.

For the first time since he'd found himself in this world.

For the first time since he'd made his blade.

For the first time in an age.

 _Naruto snapped._

A wordless roar tore out his throat and he reached through time and space toward the shooter, making a claw with his hand. Something in him responded. The unlucky shooter had little time to comprehend this, let alone what was about to transpire; one moment he'd been hefting his rifle for a second shot, the next his neck hung askew. Even as his body crumpled the blond stepped forward and flung his blade, launching it from his hands in a streak of wild light to separate another head from its shoulders. His fingers formed a fist as it flew and a concussive wave of boiling hate flattened a third against the nearest bulkhead.

Literally.

To their credit, Bala-Tik and Tasu Leech recovered quickly after that death, judging by their cries:

"A jedi?!"

"What in blazes?!"

"I thought they were extinct!"

"Who cares! Let's blast the bastard!"

As one, they turned and opened fire on him.

It didn't save them.

Consumed as he was in his anger, Naruto scarcely noticed their return fire. Everything was moving so slowly. As if they were wading through pea soup. Not him. His entire being felt sharpened, his senses heightened. With each passing second his wrath swelled and with it, his power. His speed. His comprehension. Understanding. Ah. A strange clarity settled over him, tempered by murderous intent. Yes, of course, a small voice whispered in the back of his head, one needn't show mercy to scum and villainy. With that in mind, he raised his blade to intercept.

The first shot struck his blade and ricocheted wildly.

When the second came he compensated.

By the third, he was prepared.

Then he was among them.

His blade became a blur of amber and emotion, striking relentlessly, cutting through armor and flesh alike. There was no longer any distinction between master and lightsaber. It was as much an extension of himself as his own limb. They were one. His will commanded both body and blade in equal measure. Nothing could stand against them. And the enemy? He no longer regarded them as human. Anyone with a scrap of humanity wouldn't have fired on Rey. Indeed, they were little more than wheat before the chaff in his eyes and their cries fell on deaf ears. After all, they had been so keen on doing the same to them. Just hunks of meats to cut and cut and cut...!

And so he did.

He cut them down.

Every last one of them.

 **A/N: Weren't expecting that, were you?**

 **Naruto's first real brush with the Force and he goes absolutely bonkers when someone hurts Rey. Yeah, sounds like him. I DID say there would be changes**

 **Next chapter has more of a lighthearted tone to it, with all the sweet adorable bits you've come to know and love.**

 **Just goes to show what mercy can get you; especially if you're caught off guard.**

 **I can EASILY see Han telling someone that. At his age he's too old to put up with bullshit. And Naruto being too shocked to put up a fight against it. Hope you liked the little turn of scene there rather than sticking the one from the movie. It just seemed more entertaining.**

 **And yeah, Gundam quotes are gundamn quotes.**

 **I thought the line was appropriate, given the situation.**

 **So, now Naruto's got a lightsaber, but he's got a ways to go before he figures out how to use it properly.**

 **SURPRISE! Added a bit of my own spin on things, here. Hope you enjoyed it~!**

 **Poor Naruto. Sorry if this chapter is so terribly, short, but I needed to get this off the ground. Now, before anyone says anything, Naruto is NOT at his max in this. Nowhere near it in fact. In short, he's gotten his arse handed to him, most of his powers reduced/stripped away, flat. Yes, he's stronger than your average human, but don't expecting him to be tossing any Rasenshuriken around just yet...**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!** **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEW! Tis an amusing little thing!**

 **SPOILERS AHOY!**

 **(Preview)**

 _Rey hummed softly._

 _After all, if Jaaku had taught her anything it was how to wait._

 _And fix broken things._

 _...may I?"_

 _"Alright."_

 _Deep in her soul, something sang._

 _Rey's hand ghosted over his and together they moved the blade. Dip. Pivot. Turn. Reluctantly, Naruto allowed her to help him move, to give purpose to his swings. Parry. Riposte. Spin._

 _She cast him one last furtive glance over her shoulder, then she was gone._

 _"I know that look."_

 _Naruto groaned and quietly palmed his face._

 _"What?" Naruto stiffened. "No. No, you don't."_

 _The weathered smuggler merely smirked in the face of his defiance._

 _"A' course I do. Seen it plenty of times, kid. Even a blind man can see you've been making eyes at her."_

 _"No, no, **no."**_

 _Han snorted softly._

 _"Lemme guess, you even-_

 _"Shut the hell up you scruffy nerf-herder!"_

* * *

 _"You're a spoiled little brat with daddy issues. Been there. Seen that."_

* * *

 _"FIRE!"_

 _A beat of silence passed._

 _Followed by another. Another still._

 _"What do you mean it didn't fire? Fix it-_

 _Beneath his feet, the podium trembled just so._

 _"Oh."_

 _That was all Hux had time to utter before the earth underfoot erupted and a crimson pillar immolated him where he stood. Standing at such close proximity to their general, thousands of elite stormtroopers perished with him before anyone realized what had gone wrong. By the time they did, it was already too late to escape. With a thunderous cry Starkiller base erupted, a great wound opening in the planet's crust as the mighty weapon tore itself apart from within. Fissures formed, great gaping tears in the earth swallowing up men and women alike._

 _Someone, the base still maintained its basic integrity, but only just._

 _In the distance, a certain blond howled with laughter._

* * *

 _"The darkness calls to you. Embrace it. Embrace your-_

 _CRUNCH._

 _"I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?"_

 **R &R! =D**


	8. Echoes of an Old Life

**A/N: (EDIT: Go the reviews section. I've put up a notice there. Apparently people are pissed with me for trying something new and I'm getting spammed with PM's and anonymous bullshit. Needless to say I'm not amused)**

 **REVIEW FOR IT FEEDS MY ENGINE OF CREATION!**

 **MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!**

 **Thought I'd try and get this out there in celebration. Looks like I was able to make it in time, eh?**

 **Now lets answer some questions! I think Seven will do this time.**

 **Q: Did...did Naruto just go full dark? As in Sith?**

 **A: NO. I've told a lot of people this. He's been through hell. He lost EVERYTHING and Rey's been a bit of an emotional crutch for him because of that. He had a brief lapse when he saw her get hurt. I don't know what else to say. Those thugs he killed were BAD GUYS. No one will miss them. I don't want to talk about this anymore. Don't expect Naruto to fall so easily.**

 **Q: Those previews were all kinds of spoilery! Did you really just do what I think you did?!**

 **A: Yes. Yes I did.**

 **Q: When do we get the romance between Naruto and Rey?! They deserve one another and we wanna seeeeee it!**

 **A: Someone actually accused me of rushing things already. Can you believe that? There's a reason I'm taking there romance slow. I want to keep it natural.** **Its been SEVEN fucking chapters and they haven't done anything intimate besides share a bed. Seriously. Build-up is key.**

 **And now, the dynamic of their bond begins to change.**

 **Q: How much chakra does Naruto have at present?**

 **A: Enough for basic stuff, clones, substitution and other less energy intensive techniques. He IS recovering and this chapter delves into just how much he has. Don't expect him to stay weak forever. For example, at this point, SPOILER he's created a clone that has been around for a bit.**

 **Didn't see that coming, did ya?**

 **Q: At last we see Naruto's lightsaber! I take it you have plans for it?**

 **A: I do indeed.**

 **Q: Please tell me you're not going to follow the plot of the Last Jedi. It was a shit show!**

 **A: I'm neutral on Last Jedi and have my own plans, actually. I'm going to say it right now, its going to be different. For example, no Rose. She serves no purpose in my plans. There likely won't be an interval in Canto Bight either, for that matter and Ackbar lives, screw Holdo, etc. You'll see.**

 **Q: Please don't let Rey and Naruto become insta-jedi! I beg of you, Master?**

 **A: Master? Eh, I'm kinda embarrassed! But your point aside, that's actually one of the key issues I didn't like in the films. I don't care how you explain it, Rey learned WAY too fast. Yes, she is strong with the Force. There's no denying that. But I'm taking a more logical approach to things.**

 **And there we have it.**

 **Also, snuck a funny line in here.**

 **Should be easy for the keen eye to spot.**

 **Also, there's a very vulnerable moment here.**

 **It should silence some critics and shows just Naruto feels.**

 ** _Ciao~!_**

 _"You finally smiled."_

 _"Hey, I can smile! See!"_

 _"That...honestly looks a little scary."_

 _~?_

 **Echoes of an Old Life**

 _The clone had been patient._

Days upon days spent in hiding.

Weeks of careful silence, biding its time.

Ungodly hours spent in rigid silence, refusing to speak.

Covertly, it sowed the seeds of chaos right under the First Order's nose.

Never once deviating from its course, it worked painstakingly to gather as much intelligence as it could. No piece of information was too small, too minute to ignore. Always watching. Always remembering. A careful sleight of sabotage there, a minor act of chaos there, each in place seemingly unrelated to one another. Change its face and move on before it could be caught. Rinse and repeat. Small acts that no one would notice by themselves, yet together added towards the greater whole. The doppelganger delighted in it. It felt like a return to the old life to him, when playing pranks and stirring subversion were all he had to worry about.

Happier days.

A pure, simple time.

Before everything came crashing down.

Once the clone began its work in haste, dismantling the First Order's operation proved...almost painfully simple. Especially when it started taking on the guise of the higher ups. After all, who could catch a thief who never wore the same visage twice? Certainly not when said thief disguised themselves as the esteemed Captain Phasma or the ever-brooding Kylo Ren. The end result proved as glorious as it was satisfying. Soldiers began to question one another. Officers turned on their superiors and lynched them. Others were condemned by their rivals and executed on the spot. Even droids were suspect. Trust evaporated overnight and paranoia bloomed in its place.

Like a blundering rancor, the leaders of the First Order struggled and failed to find the cause.

They only created more destruction.

Innocent officers found themselves berated by the one known as the Supreme Leader-whom the clone had yet to properly glimpse completely-and in some cases thrown into cells to await torture. Pity, about that. Had it gotten a look at the mysterious mastermind behind the First Order, It might've sowed some chaos. Still, this outcome suited the clone just fine. It carefully cataloged those who were imprisoned and moved onto to those who were not, happily stirring the pot of chaos it had created.

All the while, its supply of chakra slowly dwindled.

Even confined to a singular planet, it continued its work.

And now, after so many days, it was ready for the master stroke.

In spite of harsh words and untold toil it had held its tongue throughout, refusing to shed each disguise until given no other choice. All the while, keenly aware of what might transpire should it expire. The original was running dangerously low on chakra already. It was something of a miracle that he'd managed to make one at all. In all likelihood he might not be able to create another for some time, let alone maneuver it into such a pivotal position. Thus, the doppelganger took pangs to such an outcome, never lingering in one place for too long, avoiding cameras whenever possible.

Today, one one bothered to question _FN-2187._

He was so beneath their notice that most went out of their way to avoid him.

After all, who wanted to associate with the stormtrooper in charge of sanitation duties for Starkiller Base? No one thought to question why he was here. Most simply assumed he had been returned to this position after the failure on Jaaku. None wished to lower themselves to speak with what they viewed as little more than a glorified janitor. They simply left "him" to clean their floors, unaware of their own peril. Nor did they deign to conceal their voices from what they saw as scum. If anything, they strove all the more to make themselves heard, just to mock him.

"They're moving up the firing date?"

The clone's ears pricked up, ever so slightly.

"After all these...distractions, the Supreme Leader deemed it necessary."

He fought to keep his gaze fixated on the floor, on the mop in his hands as the pair of officers neared him, their voices rising in derision. One was a lanky stick of a man, thin and gaunt. His compatriot was a somewhat portly woman of unknown descent, her dark hair bound back in a prim knot beneath her cap. Her lip curled at the sight of him and he fought the urge to shake his head. If they was anything he'd learned during his time with the First Order, it was that they were entirely too full of themselves for their own good. Didn't they realize loose lips sank ships?

"Good for moral, I suppose." the man sighed. "It'll be a sight to see."

"Indeed." his companion agreed. "Soon enough the Republic will be little more than a bad memory.

"Shall we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight, then?"

"Never doubt it."

Beneath the helmet, the clone's face twitched into a smile.

 _'Good, good, just keep walking..._

"You there! Trooper!"

Despite his best efforts, the impostor stiffened. Had he been made? Gloved hands tightened around the mop in his hand, ready to reach into the "container" below and draw the weapon he'd hidden there. In the end, he needn't have bothered. As he looked on, the man reared his head back and spat harshly on the pristine floor.

"You missed a spot." he sneered.

Anger howled in the clone.

Quietly, he stifled it.

"...yes, sir."

Laughing they departed through a door, no doubt eager to witness what they believed would be the First Order's shining moment. Briefly, he considered hurling the container and its contents at their backs. But no, that would spoil everything. At worse, it might delay the station's firing. That wouldn't do. _It simply would not do._ If they delayed, they'd discover his handiwork; work that had taken weeks to accomplish. When he'd learned the purpose of this poorly named base, he'd forsaken his original mission to sabotage it. Anything capable of _destroying entire planets_ needed to be stopped.

Whistling softly, the clone discreetly ignored the stain on the floor and wheeled his bucket after them.

If there was to be chaos...

...well, he wanted to see his handiwork.

Admittedly the clone hadn't known much about this foreign technology; little beyond the bare bones of what Rey had taught the original, but he'd seen enough during his stay. One needn't know how something worked in order to break it. In theory, if you hit something hard enough, for long enough, it ceased working. Or if you screwed about with a containment field and redirected the energy _inward_ instead of outward...eh, semantics. If he'd done it right, the First Order would be in for a horrid surprise. If not...the blood of the innocent would be on his hands.

No pressure.

Nope, none whatsoever.

Regardless, the results would speak for themselves.

"This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand, will bring an end to the Senate!" Hux's voice echoed out above, amplified by some unseen speaker, or unknown means. "To their cherished fleet! All remaining systems will _bow_ to the First Order! And will remember this... as the last day of the last Republic!"

The clone permitted himself a moment of silence.

Uncaring of who saw, he removed his helmet.

Everything hinged on a single moment.

And Hux thundered out:

"FIRE!"

A beat of silence passed.

Followed by another. Another still.

"What do you mean it didn't fire? Fix it-

Beneath his feet, the podium trembled just so.

The clone began to snicker, despite his best efforts.

Detecting the sudden outburst of laughter, Hux rounded on him.

"Who _dares-?!"_

That was all Hux had time to utter before the earth underfoot erupted and a crimson pillar immolated him where he stood. In this, he was lucky. He was immolated in an instant. Standing at such close proximity to their general, thousands of elite stormtroopers perished with him before anyone realized what had gone wrong. By the time they did, it was already too late to escape. With a thunderous cry Starkiller base erupted, a great wound opening in the planet's crust as the mighty weapon tore itself apart from within. Fissures formed, great gaping tears in the earth swallowing up men and women alike.

It didn't end there.

Like a wounded giant, the planet gave a ponderous groan and began to tilt. Unable to maintain proper balance the station lost its very equilibrium and skewed horribly aside, pitching vessels into one another. Walkers and tie fighters alike collided, shuttles evaporating in a fiery crescendo to echo the abysmal failure that was Starkiller base. Somehow the base still maintained its basic integrity and held together, but only just. Rather than go up in flames and die a noble death it lingered on, a lurching husk of its form self, its great chamber now a twisted, mangled ruin that would never fire again.

That proved even more damning; the survivors would've gladly preferred death to this inimitable shame.

They'd never live this moment down, he had seen to that personally.

In the distance, the shadow clone howled with wild laughter...

...and promptly found himself riddled with blaster bolts.

His long labor finally complete, he perished laughing.

It felt freeing to finally do something...good.

"That's all, folks!"

 _Poof._

* * *

 _(...Scene Break...)_

* * *

They were arguing again.

Rey stumbled upon them just as they Falcon launched itself into hyperspace; the gentle rocking beneath her feet served as a strange backdrop to the scene playing out before her. Without thinking she flung herself back around the corner, nearly tripping over an indignant BB-8 as she did so. Frantically, she shushed him and risked a glance back. Han didn't seem to notice her, and neither did Naruto; they were too busy bickering. Not that she blamed them. Han had a right to be angry, if not confused after what he'd witnessed back there. She didn't condone the old smuggler grilling the blond about it, however.

"Alright kid, just what the hell are you?"

"Its none of your concern." Naruto retorted, watching him pace. "There was a threat. I dealt with it. They would've killed you."

Han sputtered.

"None of my...look, I'm not saying Bala-Tik was a good guy." Taking a deep breath, the smuggler calmed himself. "Neither were those Kanjiklub goons. That doesn't change what you did." he stepped forward, thrusting a finger against the blond's chest. "The droid's one thing, me? I'll take you to Takodona, but that's it. After that, I've got half a mind to toss you out the nearest airlock-

 _"No."_

The ice in that word chilled Rey's blood.

"No?" Han blinked at the blond, incredulous. "Watch it there, tough guy. Do you even hear yourself? You can't just go swinging that sword around whenever you get angry! That's not what a Sith does! Not a Jedi!"

 _ **"THEN I AM NOT A JEDI!"**_

The words burst out of the blond in a roar, eliciting a flinch from both parties.

"Jedi, jedi, jedi! Why does everyone keep calling me that when I'm not? I am _not_ a Jedi." he repeated quietly, bringing his anger back under control. "I never want to _be_ a Jedi. Frankly, from what I've seen, the galaxy might be better off without them. This "Luke Skylwalker" everyone seems so hellbent on finding...where is he? Why did he run? Why not stand and fight if he's so powerful? Instead, he hid. Fled, when he should have fought. If running is all a Jedi does then maybe its best that we're rid of them! Some hokey religion won't save the galaxy from the First Order! Action will!"

"Does your friend know you feel that way?"

Just like that, his scowl crumpled into a forlorn expression.

...Rey's all I have left." the blond pleaded. "Please, don't tell her I said that."

Han paused.

"I know that look."

Naruto groaned and quietly palmed his face.

"Oh, we are not doing _this_ now." he muttered. "No. No, you don't."

The weathered smuggler merely smirked in the face of his stubborn defiance.

"A' course I do. Seen it plenty of times, kid. Even a blind man can see you've been making eyes at her. But the way you flew off the handle there; when she got hurt," the old fighter shook his head. "You need to control yourself. I've seen that kind of anger before...my son had it. He let it control him. Rage is a dangerous thing. Take it from someone who's been there."

"You don't understand." shaking his head, Naruto turned away from him, growling like a caged animal. "My world...I lost everything already. I can't lose her. I won't."

As Rey looked on, Solo's stern expression softened somewhat.

"You should tell her that, then. Better you than me."

All the color drained from Naruto's visage.

"What? No! No, no, _no."_

"Why not?"

"Don't you see?!" the old smuggler didn't flinch when the blond bore down on him, seizing him by the shoulders. "Yes, I care about her. _Yes,_ she's important to me. That's why she must never know. If I tell her, things will change. I don't want them to change. If open my big mouth, I'll just ruin everything."

Han snorted softly.

"Doesn't that make _you_ a coward?"

A hand slammed into the wall, denting it.

"You shut the hell up, ya scruffy nerf-herder!"

"Suit yourself. Let me know when you're ready to talk."

He cast him one last amused glance over his shoulder, then he was gone. Naruto made no move to follow him. He simply glowered at the wall and punched it again. Rey dithered a moment, wondering if she should speak and approach him...or do anything at all for that matter. Even now his words raced in her head like the wild rathtars they'd left behind; destroying all hope of reply. He'd just admitted something extraordinary, and for the life of her, she couldn't bring herself to muster a response.

BB-8 was having absolutely none of her fear or hesitation.

With a sharp jolt, the little droid prodded her forward.

"Hey!"

Naruto tensed, suddenly aware of her.

His shoulders went rigid.

"Are you...alright?"

For some reason he refused to face her.

...how much of that did you hear?" he asked.

"Just a little." she lied, averting her gaze from his back.

If Naruto heard the falsehood in her voice, he did precious little to show it. His gaze seemed distant but supremely focused; locked upon an unassuming corner of the Falcon with frightening intensity as if he expected to somehow unearth the secrets of the universe there should he glare at it long enough. Gazing at nothing, yet everything. Indeed, he didn't even seem to notice her presence beside him. On some level knew the scavenger girl knew she should be happy; his early display had convinced Han of their sincerity and he'd sworn to help them in return. Even now, the Millennium Falcon-she still got shivers saying that-raced through hyperspace to their final destination, wherever that might be.

Yet her partner had inexplicably retreated inward, falling into sullen silence.

And now, given what she'd just seen, what she'd just heard him say...

Idly rubbing her wrapped arm, she waited for a response.

...Naruto?"

At her heel, BB-8 warbled an inquiry.

"Have you tried shocking him?" she muttered sardonically.

Rey thought she caught a mischievous gleam in the droid's photoreceptor when she spoke those words. She wasn't expecting him to follow through on his sarcasm. He certainly didn't need to be asked twice. Wheeling forward, the rotund synthetic extended its short arm and with what she almost _swore_ was a chuckle, made to prod their ally in his good leg.

Naruto's right hand twitched, just so.

And the droid flew into the air.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

With an indignant shriek the little ball found himself ripped from the floor and sent caroming off a nearby wall.

An outraged series of bleeps rewarded the whiskered warrior for his efforts.

...right." Rey grimaced at his reaction. "Lets not do that, again."

The little droid must've agreed, for he hastily rolled away.

Once more, she found herself alone with him.

Still, minutes passed between them and the whiskered warrior showed no sign of acknowledging her in the least. She suspected she knew the reason for his silence. Unbidden, her gaze strayed to his hip, the simple cylinder dangling from his belt like an innocent bauble. In truth, it was anything but. She'd seen him cut down Did she fear him for it? Of course not. Tsau Leech and that other gang-some absurd name that escaped her at the moment-had tried to kill them. They'd shot her, she'd fallen to the floor, and from there was presented a prime view of their slaughter.

He'd barely spoken a word since.

Before she'd met him, this stoic silence might have rankled her. Now? She weathered it quietly. That was alright. After all, if Jaaku had taught her anything it was how to wait.

And to fix broken things.

Sure enough, after the fifth minute he finally stirred.

"You asked if I was alright." though he spoke, he still didn't face her. "You wouldn't believe me if if I told you."

"Try me."

To her initial shock, he did.

His response nearly floored her. Not because of the deadpan tone in which it was delivered, but the words themselves. The First Order possessed a base capable of taking out entire planets in a single shot. And he'd disabled it...with a copy of himself? It sound almost too absurd to believe. Yet, coming from him...Naruto didn't lie. He had no reason to concoct a story like that out of the blue. Much less tell her. Yet something in his words gave her pause. The way he'd spoken...it made a lump form in her throat.

"Naruto...look at me."

A beat of silence passed.

"Rey, I don't think that's a good idea."

Looking back, she wasn't sure what spurred her forward.

It could've been impatience.

It might've been empathy.

Something else entirely.

Whatever the case, she found herself moving to his side. Slowly, carefully, she took hold of his face and forced him to look at her. Naruto didn't struggle. His sole form of resistance came in the form of a weary sigh; as if he were tired and in need of rest. Perhaps he was. They'd been running for so long, from one disaster to another, that they simply hadn't had time to rest. Still, she sensed it was of paramount importance that she break through the strange haze of depression that had inexplicably fallen over her comrade.

 _"Look at me."_

Without protest, the blond berserker turned his head to regard her, his gaze reappearing over his shoulder. Rey nearly jumped out of her skin. For a second those blue eyes almost seemed gold to her; the color of poisoned honey soaked in morning dew. When she blinked again they were nowhere to be seen. All that remained were those mournful azure orbs gazing back at her. Had she imagined it? Was that a tear rolling down his whiskered cheek? Was she imagining that as well?

"I killed them." he muttered, his hand sliding over her palm. "Not just that gang...but those people on that base. And it felt...good. I enjoyed it. What's happening to me?"

Rey hummed softly.

"I don't know. Whatever it is, we'll face it together."

She'd rarely seen Naruto at a loss for words; but this was one of those moments.

The weight of her own words caught up with Rey a heartbeat later.

 _'Stupid, stupid, STUPID! What was I thinking, saying that!?'_

Wordlessly she pushed past his guard and tucked her head into his broad chest to hide her face. The musky scent of oil coupled with ozone filled her nose but she tactfully ignored it, instead wrapping her slim arms around his waist. Once again the blond stiffened, but this time in surprise, rather than anger. She felt rather than saw his arms turn stiff as durasteel at his sides. He likely felt just as uncertain as she. With an awkward twitch, they rose to encircle her just above her waist. Not trusting herself to look him in the eye, the scavenger opted to stare at his feet instead.

...I did hear you." she admitted, the words muffled into his coat, mirrored by the rising flush in her face. "Earlier, that is. I'm sorry."

A bitter laugh escaped him, rumbling through his chest into her ear.

"Of course you did. You always were an awful liar."

She feebly kicked him in the shin.

...so, what happens now?"

"I don't know either."

Rey squirmed.

"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't...something there." she relented, keenly aware of the flush crawling up her neck. "But I don't know what to call...this." In truth, she didn't. Naruto had quite literally, fallen out of the sky and dropped into her life. In the time she'd come to know him-which was substantial-she'd felt something. A seed had been planted in the arid wastes of Jaaku. By all accounts it should've withered and died. Yet instead it had grown and flourished and inevitably become something more. Yet what had it become?

She couldn't be sure.

"Well, thanks." her companion muttered, favoring her with a grim smile. "Really did wonders for my confidence, there."

Rey kicked him harder.

"Ow!"

 _"You finally smiled."_

"Hey, I can smile! See!"

Rigidly, he forced a toothy grin.

"That...honestly looks a little scary."

"Yeah, I might be a little out of practice there...

Words finally failed them there and a restless beat of silence thrust itself between the two exiles once more; a dark shroud neither dared part. One for fear, the other, uncertainty. Neither moved. Eventually one-Rey couldn't recall who-pulled away from the other, withdrawing to arms length without relinquishing their hold. Without pause or warning, she found herself gazing up at him. Blast it. Why _did_ he have to be so insufferably tall? Heat rose in her cheeks again and for all her valiant efforts, she couldn't bring herself to look away. With each passing moment she found herself growing restless. Anxious.

 _Why was she hesitating?_

A fit of impulse-and quite possibly something else entirely-seized Rey all at once and she pushed herself upright to the very tips of her toes in his arms. Perhaps Naruto realized what she aimed for; what she must've intended to do. Perhaps he'd intended the very same himself. Perhaps not. Regardless, he made no move to escape, though it was well within his power to do so. He could used any number of maneuvers to wriggle free and bolt, yet he stood stock still. Which was just as well; because Rey doubted she'd be able to muster enough courage to make a second attempt if she failed.

Her lips touched his.

Reluctantly, pulled away.

"Anything?" Naruto ventured.

"I'm...not sure." she admitted weakly.

Rey could feel her face burning, awash in red.

Unable to look him in the eye, she scooted closer.

"Hold still."

"Eh? Wait, wha-

She kissed him again.

Tentatively, hesitant and horribly awkward at first, testing out this new, strange sensation. Then deeper when that didn't satisfy her. No. Not enough. More. Naruto inhaled sharply as she pushed him against the wall and crushed her mouth against his. The sound triggered something in Rey. No, it _awakened_ something. Something that had always been there, dormant, slumbering, now suddenly, terribly awake. A strange feeling she couldn't quantify. Desire might've been the word. Possessiveness, another. Try as she might she couldn't find a name for it, only that it was quite suddenly there, driving all thought.

In the end, she couldn't bring herself to care.

She wanted more of _this,_ this indescribable feeling. His lips molded marvelously on hers, and in turn her arms tightened around her waist while his fingers threaded through her hair, undoing the knots there. Someone laughed, but she didn't know who. Her hands looped around the back of his neck, locking herself in place as they drank in one another. Deep in her soul, something sang as he held her. _Yes._ This felt right. It felt pure and good and _hers_ and _nothing_ was going to take this way from here because she would _kill_ anyone who tried and-

Poking around the corner, BB-8 whistled cheerily.

Rey jumped. Where had he come from?!

"How long where you there?!"

"Hey, lovebirds!" Han's voice crowed from the cockpit. "We're here!"

 **A/N: SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sappy there at the end, but that was definitely worth it!**

 **Yeah, writing that bit put a smile on my face.**

 **Now, then! Onto other matters!**

 **Let's put things into perspective, hmm? It is HEAVILY implied that Naruto squirreled away a clone on Kylo's transport. Wasn't hard to do, considering the chaos.** **He might be low on chakra, but he had enough to create one.** **That one clone was more than enough to cause some chaos. No, more than chaos; one disguised clone ALONE was enough to sow chaos and disorder on Starkiller Base and all but drive Snoke mad trying to find him.**

 **Reflect on that for a moment, if you will.**

 **This brings about MASSIVE changes, and good ones at that!**

 **Suffice to say the First Order is going to strike back and strike back HARD.**

 **Naruto and Rey aren't out of the woods yet...**

 **...no, definitely not by a bloody long shot!**

 **So, in the Immortal Words of Atlas...**

 **...REVIEW! And May the Force be with you!** **AND ENJOY ZE PREVIEWS!**

 **SPOILERS AHOY!**

 **(Preview)**

 _"That lightsaber...  
_

* * *

 _"Where are you going? Don't leave!"_

* * *

 _"Where is she?"_

 _"She belongs to darkness now."_

* * *

 _"Join me."_

 _"No, no, please don't go this way..._

 **R &R! =D**


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